Cited by 593Neural dynamics and brain functionMemory and Neural MechanismsNeuroscience and Neuropharmacology Research

Spontaneous Events Outline the Realm of Possible Sensory Responses in Neocortical Populations

Open access
Luczak, Artur, Barthó, Peter, Harris, Kenneth D.·2009·Neuron

Abstract

Neocortical assemblies produce complex activity patterns both in response to sensory stimuli and spontaneously without sensory input. To investigate the structure of these patterns, we recorded from populations of 40-100 neurons in auditory and somatosensory cortices of anesthetized and awake rats using silicon microelectrodes. Population spike time patterns were broadly conserved across multiple sensory stimuli and spontaneous events. Although individual neurons showed timing variations between stimuli, these were not sufficient to disturb a generally conserved sequential organization observed at the population level, lasting for approximately 100 ms with spiking reliability decaying progressively after event onset. Preserved constraints were also seen in population firing rate vectors, with vectors evoked by individual stimuli occupying subspaces of a larger but still constrained space outlined by the set of spontaneous events. These results suggest that population spike patterns are drawn from a limited "vocabulary," sampled widely by spontaneous events but more narrowly by sensory responses.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1016/j.neuron.2009.03.014

Cites

76 of 76 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • A growing body of experimental evidence suggests that the patterns of neuronal interactions relevant for consciousness must not only be tightly integrated through feedforward and feedback connections but must also be differentiated and information rich.

    “A growing body of experimental evidence suggests that the patterns of neuronal interactions that are relevant for consciousness must not only be tightly integrated through feedforward and feedback connections but must also be differentiated and information rich.32,168,169”

    From An integrative, multiscale view on neural theories of consciousness (2024) · cites this paper as [168]

    Split into 2 atoms — 0 confirmed, 1 partially supported, 0 disputed, 0 misattributed, 1 unverifiable. Expand the claim to see per-atom verdicts.

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • Spontaneous activity is not random and is determined by similar or the same neural circuits involved in sensory responses.

    “However, spontaneous activity is not random and is determined by the operation of similar or the same neural circuits involved in sensory responses”

    From Waking state: rapid variations modulate neural and behavioral responses (2015) · cites this paper as Luczak et al., 2009

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

2 of the 78 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Luczak, A., Barthó, P., & Harris, K. D.
Affiliations
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (US)
Corresponding author
Harris, Kenneth D.
Venue
Neuron
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2009-05
Volume
62
Issue
3
Pages
413-425
ISSN
0896-6273 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2150240029
Cited by
593
References
78
Citations by year
2026: 19 · 2025: 25 · 2024: 37 · 2023: 28 · 2022: 28 · 2021: 42 · 2020: 34 · 2019: 61 · 2018: 39 · 2017: 54 · 2016: 46 · 2015: 46 · 2014: 27 · 2013: 36 · 2012: 24
FWCI
11.16
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Neuron (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
  • UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • National Institute of Mental Health (MH073245, R01MH073245)
  • National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (DC009947, R01DC009947)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural dynamics and brain function
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neuroscience and Neuropharmacology Research
Keywords
spontaneous neuronal activity, auditory cortex, somatosensory cortex, sensory evoked potentials, population coding
MeSH terms
Acoustic Stimulation, Action Potentials, Animals, Auditory Cortex, Cortical Synchronization, Evoked Potentials, Auditory, Nerve Net, Neurons, Perception, Reaction Time, Somatosensory Cortex, Rats, Sprague-Dawley, Rats, Miniature Postsynaptic Potentials

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review