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Response latencies of cells in the cat's lateral geniculate nucleus are less variable during burst than tonic firing

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 1998

W. GUIDO  and
S. MURRAY SHERMAN
W. GUIDO
Affiliation:
Department of Neurobiology, State University of New York, Stony Brook Present address: LSU Medical Center, Department of Anatomy and Center for Neuroscience, 1901 Perdido Street, New Orleans, LA 70112, USA.
S. MURRAY SHERMAN
Affiliation:
Department of Neurobiology, State University of New York, Stony Brook
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Abstract

We measured the variability in latency of the first spike seen in cells of the cat's lateral geniculate nucleus following the onset of a visual stimulus. We found that, in each of the 11 cells tested, this variability was significantly lower during burst than during tonic firing. We suggest that this difference confers an advantage in signal detection during burst compared to tonic firing. This complements other reported advantages of burst firing for signal detection seen in signal-to-noise ratios and in the ability to efficiently drive postsynaptic cells.

Keywords

T currentLow-threshold spikeThalamusVision
Type
Research Article
Information
Visual Neuroscience , Volume 15 , Issue 2 , February 1998 , pp. 231 - 237
Copyright
1998 Cambridge University Press

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