TY - JOUR
T1 - Stimulus selectivity and spatial coherence of gamma components of the local field potential
AU - Jia, Xiaoxuan
AU - Smith, Matthew A.
AU - Kohn, Adam
PY - 2011/6/22
Y1 - 2011/6/22
N2 - The gamma frequencies of the local field potential (LFP) provide a physiological correlate for numerous perceptual and cognitive phenomena and have been proposed to play a role in cortical function. Understanding the spatial extent of gamma and its relationship to spiking activity is critical for interpreting this signal and elucidating its function, but previous studies have provided widely disparate views of these properties. We addressed these issues by simultaneously recording LFPs and spiking activity using microelectrode arrays implanted in the primary visual cortex of macaque monkeys. We find that the spatial extent of gammaand its relationship to local spiking activity is stimulus dependent. Small gratings, and those masked with noise, induce a broadband increase in spectral power. This signal is tuned similarly to spiking activity and has limited spatial coherence. Large gratings, however, induce agammarhythm characterized by a distinctive spectral "bump," which is coherent across widely separated sites. This signal is well tuned, but its stimulus preference is similar across millimeters of cortex. The preference of this global gamma rhythm is sensitive to adaptation, in a manner consistent with its magnifying a bias in the neuronal representation of visual stimuli. Gamma thus arises from two sources that reflect different spatial scales of neural ensemble activity. Our results show that there is not a single, fixed ensemble contributing to gamma and that the selectivity of gamma cannot be used to infer its spatial extent.
AB - The gamma frequencies of the local field potential (LFP) provide a physiological correlate for numerous perceptual and cognitive phenomena and have been proposed to play a role in cortical function. Understanding the spatial extent of gamma and its relationship to spiking activity is critical for interpreting this signal and elucidating its function, but previous studies have provided widely disparate views of these properties. We addressed these issues by simultaneously recording LFPs and spiking activity using microelectrode arrays implanted in the primary visual cortex of macaque monkeys. We find that the spatial extent of gammaand its relationship to local spiking activity is stimulus dependent. Small gratings, and those masked with noise, induce a broadband increase in spectral power. This signal is tuned similarly to spiking activity and has limited spatial coherence. Large gratings, however, induce agammarhythm characterized by a distinctive spectral "bump," which is coherent across widely separated sites. This signal is well tuned, but its stimulus preference is similar across millimeters of cortex. The preference of this global gamma rhythm is sensitive to adaptation, in a manner consistent with its magnifying a bias in the neuronal representation of visual stimuli. Gamma thus arises from two sources that reflect different spatial scales of neural ensemble activity. Our results show that there is not a single, fixed ensemble contributing to gamma and that the selectivity of gamma cannot be used to infer its spatial extent.
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U2 - 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0645-11.2011
DO - 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0645-11.2011
M3 - Article
C2 - 21697389
AN - SCOPUS:79959680375
SN - 0270-6474
VL - 31
SP - 9390
EP - 9403
JO - Journal of Neuroscience
JF - Journal of Neuroscience
IS - 25
ER -