Cholinergic modulation of spike timing and spike rate

Cholinergic Modulation Preserves Spike Timing Under Physiologically Realistic Fluctuating Input

Neuromodulation can change not only the mean firing rate of a neuron, but also its pattern of firing . Therefore, a reliable neural coding scheme, whether a rate coding or a spike time based coding, must be robust in a dynamic neuromodulatory environment . The common observation that cholinergic modulation leads to a reduction in spike frequency adaptation implies a modification of spike timing...

Cholinergic Modulation Preserves Spike Timing Under Physiologically Realistic Fluctuating Input

Effects of cholinergic modulation on responses of neocortical neurons to fluctuating input.

Neocortical neurons in vivo are spontaneously active and intracellular recordings have revealed strongly fluctuating membrane potentials arising from the irregular arrival of excitatory and inhibitory synaptic potentials. In addition to these rapid fluctuations, more slowly varying influences from diffuse activation of neuromodulatory systems alter the excitability of cortical neurons by modula...

Spike timing dependent plasticity: mechanisms, significance, and controversies

Long-term modification of synaptic strength is one of the basic mechanisms of memory formation and activity-dependent refinement of neural circuits. This idea was purposed by Hebb to provide a basis for the formation of a cell assembly. Repetitive correlated activity of pre-synaptic and post-synaptic neurons can induce long-lasting synaptic strength modification, the direction and extent of whi...

Proportional spike-timing precision and firing reliability underlie efficient temporal processing of periodicity and envelope shape cues.

Temporal sound cues are essential for sound recognition, pitch, rhythm, and timbre perception, yet how auditory neurons encode such cues is subject of ongoing debate. Rate coding theories propose that temporal sound features are represented by rate tuned modulation filters. However, overwhelming evidence also suggests that precise spike timing is an essential attribute of the neural code. Here ...