Trial development of unit response changes during conditioning in cats.

Single-cell and evoked potential (EP) activity in the postcruciate cortex of acutely prepared cats was recorded during a classical conditioning procedure. The temporal pattern of response (PSH) of the neuron was separated into three components, and the trial development of learning changes for these components was examined individually. Changes over trials in the similarity of the EP waveform and the unit PSH were also examined. The unit response components showed changes in response at different trial periods; these changes could not be accounted for by changes at lower brain levels that projected to the cortex. This suggests that local learning changes were taking places in the cortex. The EP-PSH similarity decreased for neurons showing the largest changes in response during conditioning. Since the EP reflects the response of the whole population of neurons and a majority did not show learning changes, this could account for the observed decrease.