NEURAL CODING OF VISUAL STIMULI IN THE AWAKE MONKEY

从第一个和最后一个皮层站记录单个神经元 研究猴子视觉系统的机制 感知和记忆 这两个区域的神经元，纹状体皮质和 下颞叶皮层，表现出不同的时间序列的行动 对不同视觉刺激模式的反应。 分析 这些神经元的反应就好像它们是信息载体， 沟通渠道显示，不同的时间模式， 神经元活动传达不同的信息刺激功能。 在这两个皮层区域，几个（3-6）同时，独立 需要时间模式来表示刺激的调制 驱动神经元活动。 一种由三个同时存在的时间序列组成的代码 模式传达的刺激信息是其他模式的两倍。 传统的反应测量，动作电位的数量。 这 提出了一个关于视觉处理的新假设，即多重过滤器 假设：视觉系统神经元的行为就像他们传输几个 描述刺激的同时或多路复用的消息。 在测试中， 根据这一假设，纹状皮质的复杂细胞的反应是 其特征在于使用一小组（16）一维基本刺激。 一 神经元反应性的计算机模拟 多路滤波器假设成功地预测了实际的时间 这些神经元对其他44种一维模式的调制反应。

Single neurons were recorded from both the first and last cortical stations of the visual system of monkeys to study mechanisms underlying visual perception and memory. Neurons in both these regions, striate cortex and inferior temporal cortex, showed different temporal sequences of action potentials in response to different visual stimulus patterns. Analysis of the responses of these neurons as if they were information carriers in communications channels revealed that different temporal patterns of neuronal activity conveyed different information about stimulus features. In both these cortical regions, several (3-6) simultaneous, independent temporal patterns were needed to represent the modulation of the stimulus driven neuronal activity. A code made up of three simultaneous temporal patterns conveyed twice as much information about the stimulus as a more traditional measure of the response, the number of action potentials. This suggests a new hypothesis about visual processing, the multiplex-filter hypothesis: visual system neurons act as if they transmit several simultaneous or multiplexed messages describing the stimulus. In a test of this hypothesis, the responses of complex cells from striate cortex were characterized using a small set (16) of one-dimensional basic stimuli. A computer simulation of neuronal responsiveness based on the multiplex-filter hypothesis successfully predicted the actual temporally modulated responses of these neurons to 44 other one-dimensional patterns.