High precision coding in visual cortex

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BioRxiv. 2019 Jul;:679324. doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/679324

High precision coding in visual cortex Stringer Lab

Stringer C, Michaelos M, Pachitariu M

Note: Research in this publication was not performed at Janelia.

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Abstract

Single neurons in visual cortex provide unreliable measurements of visual features due to their high trial-to-trial variability. It is not known if this “noise” extends its effects over large neural populations to impair the global encoding of sensory stimuli. We recorded simultaneously from ∼20,000 neurons in mouse visual cortex and found that the neural population had discrimination thresholds of 0.3° in an orientation decoding task. These thresholds are ∼100 times smaller than those reported behaviorally in mice. The discrepancy between neural and behavioral discrimination could not be explained by the types of stimuli we used, by behavioral states or by the sequential nature of trial-by-trial perceptual learning tasks. These results imply that the limits of sensory perception in mice are not set by neural noise in sensory cortex, but by the limitations of downstream decoders.

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High precision coding in visual cortex

Note: Research in this publication was not performed at Janelia.

Abstract

Janelia Authors