Usrey W M, Reid R C
Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.
Annu Rev Physiol. 1999;61:435-56. doi: 10.1146/annurev.physiol.61.1.435.
Synchronous activity among ensembles of neurons is a robust phenomenon observed in many regions of the brain. With the increased use of multielectrode recording techniques, synchronous firing of ensembles of neurons has been found at all levels in the mammalian visual pathway, from the retina to the extrastriate cortex. Here we distinguish three categories of synchrony in the visual system, (a) synchrony from anatomical divergence, (b) stimulus-dependent synchrony, and (c) emergent synchrony (oscillations). Although all three categories have been well documented, their functional significance remains uncertain. We discuss several lines of evidence both for and against a role for synchrony in visual processing: the perceptual consequences of synchronous activity, its ability to carry information, and the transmission of synchronous neural events to subsequent stages of processing.
神经元集群之间的同步活动是在大脑许多区域观察到的一种稳定现象。随着多电极记录技术使用的增加，在哺乳动物视觉通路从视网膜到纹外皮层的各级水平上都发现了神经元集群的同步放电。在这里，我们区分视觉系统中的三类同步：(a) 解剖学发散引起的同步，(b) 刺激依赖的同步，以及 (c) 涌现同步（振荡）。尽管这三类同步都有充分的文献记载，但其功能意义仍不确定。我们讨论了几条支持和反对同步在视觉处理中起作用的证据：同步活动的感知结果、其携带信息的能力，以及同步神经事件向后续处理阶段的传递。
