Discrimination performance of single neurons: rate and temporal-pattern information.

1. A new method of measuring the performance of neurons in sensory discrimination tasks was developed and then applied to single-neuron responses recorded in the auditory nerve of chinchilla and in the striate visual cortex of cat. 2. Most previous methods of measuring discrimination performance have employed decision rules that involve comparing the total counts of action potentials (spikes) produced by two different stimuli. Such measures ignore response pattern and hence may not reflect all the information transmitted by a neuron. The proposed method attempts to measure all (or most) of the transmitted information by constructing descriptive models of the neuron's response to each stimulus in the discrimination experiment; these descriptive models consist of measured probability distributions of the spike counts in small time bins. The measured probability distributions are then used to define an optimal decision rule (an ideal observer) for discriminating the two stimuli. Finally, discrimination performance is measured by applying this decision rule to novel presentations of the same two stimuli. 3. Intensity and temporal-phase discrimination were measured for three neurons in the auditory nerve of chinchilla. The discrimination stimuli were low-frequency pure tones of 70-ms duration. Intensity thresholds were found to be 5-20 dB lower at low intensities using the new pattern method compared with the traditional counting method. The pattern method led to better performance because it utilized both rate and temporal pattern information. Phase discrimination performance using the counting method was at chance because the average spike rate did not change with phase. On the other hand, using the pattern method, phase discrimination thresholds were found to decrease with intensity, often reaching values equivalent to 30-40 microseconds of temporal offset. These thresholds are as good as or better than behavioral thresholds in chinchilla. 4. Contrast and temporal-phase discrimination were measured for three neurons in the striate visual cortex of cat. The discrimination stimuli were drifting sine-wave gratings of 100- to 160-ms duration. Contrast discrimination functions measured by the pattern method and the counting method were found to be essentially identical. Phase discrimination using the counting method was at chance. However, using the pattern method, phase thresholds were found to decrease with contrast, reaching values equivalent to 7 ms of temporal offset for the two simple cells. 5. Our results suggest that temporal response pattern carries substantial information for intensity and phase discrimination in the auditory nerve and for phase discrimination in the striate visual cortex.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)