Authors: Tobias A S Ewert Johannes Möller Andreas K Engel Christiane VahleHinz
Publish Date: 2015/07/01
Volume: 233, Issue: 10, Pages: 2869-2882
Abstract
Rats probe objects with their whiskers and make decisions about sizes shapes textures and distances within a few tens of milliseconds This perceptual analysis requires the processing of tactile highfrequency object components reflecting surface roughness We have shown that neurons in the barrel cortex of rats encode highfrequency sinusoidal vibrations of whiskers for sustained periods when presented with constant amplitudes and frequencies In a natural situation however stimulus parameters change rapidly when whiskers are brushing across objects In this study we therefore analysed cortical responses to vibratory movements of single whiskers with rapidly changing amplitudes and frequencies The results show that different neural codes are employed for a processing of stimulus parameters The frequency of whisker vibration is encoded by the temporal pattern of spike discharges ie the phaselocked responses of barrel cortex neurons In addition oscillatory gamma band activity was induced during highfrequency stimulation The pivotal descriptor of the amplitude of whisker displacement the velocity is reflected in the rate of spike discharges While phaselocked discharges occurred over the entire range of frequencies tested 10–600 Hz the discharge rate increased with stimulus velocity only up to about 60 µm/ms saturating at a mean rate of ~117 spikes/s In addition the results show that whisker movements of more than 500 Hz bandwidth may be encoded by phaselocked responses of small groups of cortical neurons Thus even single whiskers may transmit information about wide ranges of textural components owing to their set of different types of hair follicle mechanoreceptors
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