Eggermont J J, Smith G M
Department of Psychology, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Neuroreport. 1996 Feb 29;7(3):753-7. doi: 10.1097/00001756-199602290-00018.
Frequency-tuning in 46 high-firing single units from primary auditory cortex of ketamine-anaesthetized cats was studied separately for isolated-spike firing and burst spike firing. The tuning curve for burst firing was significantly narrower than for the overall firing rate condition and, consequently, much narrower than for the isolated spikes. The burst firing was found in excess of that predicted from a modulated Poisson process, so the results cannot be explained on basis of a change in firing rate criterion. We propose that burst firing in auditory cortex may selectively enhance frequency tuning dynamically controlled by the behavioural state of the animal as well as its stimulus history. Thus burst firing may have functional implications for cortical processing.
对氯胺酮麻醉猫初级听觉皮层的46个高频单神经元的频率调谐进行了研究，分别针对单个脉冲发放和爆发式脉冲发放进行了分析。爆发式脉冲发放的调谐曲线明显比总体发放率情况的调谐曲线更窄，因此，也比单个脉冲的调谐曲线窄得多。发现爆发式脉冲发放超出了由调制泊松过程预测的发放量，所以这些结果不能基于发放率标准的变化来解释。我们提出，听觉皮层中的爆发式脉冲发放可能会动态地选择性增强频率调谐，这种调谐由动物的行为状态及其刺激历史动态控制。因此，爆发式脉冲发放可能对皮层处理具有功能意义。
