JN Watch the video to see how APS reaches out to developing nations.
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     

J Neurophysiol 87: 653-659, 2002;
0022-3077/02 $5.00
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Web of Science (49)
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Miller, K. D.
Right arrow Articles by Troyer, T. W.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Miller, K. D.
Right arrow Articles by Troyer, T. W.

The Journal of Neurophysiology Vol. 87 No. 2 February 2002, pp. 653-659
Copyright ©2002 by the American Physiological Society

Neural Noise Can Explain Expansive, Power-Law Nonlinearities in Neural Response Functions

Kenneth D. Miller1 and Todd W. Troyer2

 1Departments of Physiology and Otolaryngology, W. M. Keck Center for Integrative Neuroscience, Sloan Center for Theoretical Neurobiology, University of California, San Francisco, California 94143-0444; and  2Department of Psychology, Neuroscience and Cognitive Science Program, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742

Miller, Kenneth D. and Todd W. Troyer. Neural Noise Can Explain Expansive, Power-Law Nonlinearities in Neural Response Functions. J. Neurophysiol. 87: 653-659, 2002. Many phenomenological models of the responses of simple cells in primary visual cortex have concluded that a cell's firing rate should be given by its input raised to a power greater than one. This is known as an expansive power-law nonlinearity. However, intracellular recordings have shown that a different nonlinearity, a linear-threshold function, appears to give a good prediction of firing rate from a cell's low-pass-filtered voltage response. Using a model based on a linear-threshold function, Anderson et al. showed that voltage noise was critical to converting voltage responses with contrast-invariant orientation tuning into spiking responses with contrast-invariant tuning. We present two separate results clarifying the connection between noise-smoothed linear-threshold functions and power-law nonlinearities. First, we prove analytically that a power-law nonlinearity is the only input-output function that converts contrast-invariant input tuning into contrast-invariant spike tuning. Second, we examine simulations of a simple model that assumes instantaneous spike rate is given by a linear-threshold function of voltage and voltage responses include significant noise. We show that the resulting average spike rate is well described by an expansive power law of the average voltage (averaged over multiple trials), provided that average voltage remains less than about 1.5 SDs of the noise above threshold. Finally, we use this model to show that the noise levels recorded by Anderson et al. are consistent with the degree to which the orientation tuning of spiking responses is more sharply tuned relative to the orientation tuning of voltage responses. Thus neuronal noise can robustly generate power-law input-output functions of the form frequently postulated for simple cells.




This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 J. Neurophysiol.Home page
H.-R. Geis and J. G. G. Borst
Intracellular Responses of Neurons in the Mouse Inferior Colliculus to Sinusoidal Amplitude-Modulated Tones
J Neurophysiol, April 1, 2009; 101(4): 2002 - 2016.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 J. Neurosci.Home page
F. R. Fernandez and J. A. White
Reduction of Spike Afterdepolarization by Increased Leak Conductance Alters Interspike Interval Variability
J. Neurosci., January 28, 2009; 29(4): 973 - 986.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 J. Neurosci.Home page
N. J. Priebe
The Relationship between Subthreshold and Suprathreshold Ocular Dominance in Cat Primary Visual Cortex
J. Neurosci., August 20, 2008; 28(34): 8553 - 8559.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 J. Neurosci.Home page
B. J. Fischer, G. B. Christianson, and J. L. Pena
Cross-Correlation in the Auditory Coincidence Detectors of Owls
J. Neurosci., August 6, 2008; 28(32): 8107 - 8115.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Cereb CortexHome page
L. G. Nowak, M. V. Sanchez-Vives, and D. A. McCormick
Lack of Orientation and Direction Selectivity in a Subgroup of Fast-Spiking Inhibitory Interneurons: Cellular and Synaptic Mechanisms and Comparison with Other Electrophysiological Cell Types
Cereb Cortex, May 1, 2008; 18(5): 1058 - 1078.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 J. Neurosci.Home page
F. R. Fernandez and J. A. White
Artificial Synaptic Conductances Reduce Subthreshold Oscillations and Periodic Firing in Stellate Cells of the Entorhinal Cortex
J. Neurosci., April 2, 2008; 28(14): 3790 - 3803.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 J. Neurophysiol.Home page
T. Duong and R. D. Freeman
Contrast Sensitivity Is Enhanced by Expansive Nonlinear Processing in the Lateral Geniculate Nucleus
J Neurophysiol, January 1, 2008; 99(1): 367 - 372.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 J. Neurosci.Home page
J. A. Cardin, L. A. Palmer, and D. Contreras
Stimulus Feature Selectivity in Excitatory and Inhibitory Neurons in Primary Visual Cortex
J. Neurosci., September 26, 2007; 27(39): 10333 - 10344.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 J. Neurosci.Home page
I. M. Finn and D. Ferster
Computational Diversity in Complex Cells of Cat Primary Visual Cortex
J. Neurosci., September 5, 2007; 27(36): 9638 - 9648.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 J. Neurosci.Home page
D. L. Ringach and B. J. Malone
The Operating Point of the Cortex: Neurons as Large Deviation Detectors
J. Neurosci., July 18, 2007; 27(29): 7673 - 7683.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 J. Neurophysiol.Home page
S. E. Palmer and K. D. Miller
Effects of Inhibitory Gain and Conductance Fluctuations in a Simple Model for Contrast-Invariant Orientation Tuning in Cat V1
J Neurophysiol, July 1, 2007; 98(1): 63 - 78.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USAHome page
L. Tao, D. Cai, D. W. McLaughlin, M. J. Shelley, and R. Shapley
Orientation selectivity in visual cortex by fluctuation-controlled criticality
PNAS, August 22, 2006; 103(34): 12911 - 12916.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 J. Neurophysiol.Home page
R. A. Frazor, D. G. Albrecht, W. S. Geisler, and A. M. Crane
Visual Cortex Neurons of Monkeys and Cats: Temporal Dynamics of the Spatial Frequency Response Function
J Neurophysiol, June 1, 2004; 91(6): 2607 - 2627.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 J. Neurosci.Home page
B. K. Murphy and K. D. Miller
Multiplicative Gain Changes Are Induced by Excitation or Inhibition Alone
J. Neurosci., November 5, 2003; 23(31): 10040 - 10051.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USAHome page
S. A. Prescott and Y. De Koninck
Gain control of firing rate by shunting inhibition: Roles of synaptic noise and dendritic saturation
PNAS, February 18, 2003; 100(4): 2076 - 2081.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Cereb CortexHome page
K. D. Miller
Understanding Layer 4 of the Cortical Circuit: A Model Based on Cat V1
Cereb Cortex, January 1, 2003; 13(1): 73 - 82.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 J. Neurosci.Home page
M. Carandini, D. J Heeger, and W. Senn
A Synaptic Explanation of Suppression in Visual Cortex
J. Neurosci., November 15, 2002; 22(22): 10053 - 10065.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 J. Neurophysiol.Home page
D. G. Albrecht, W. S. Geisler, R. A. Frazor, and A. M. Crane
Visual Cortex Neurons of Monkeys and Cats: Temporal Dynamics of the Contrast Response Function
J Neurophysiol, August 1, 2002; 88(2): 888 - 913.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 J. Neurosci.Home page
D. Hansel and C. van Vreeswijk
How Noise Contributes to Contrast Invariance of Orientation Tuning in Cat Visual Cortex
J. Neurosci., June 15, 2002; 22(12): 5118 - 5128.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 J. Neurophysiol.Home page
T. W. Troyer, A. E. Krukowski, and K. D. Miller
LGN Input to Simple Cells and Contrast-Invariant Orientation Tuning: An Analysis
J Neurophysiol, June 1, 2002; 87(6): 2741 - 2752.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Visit Other APS Journals Online