Response variability of neurons in primary visual cortex (V1) of alert monkeys
Open accessAbstract
Response variability of neurons limits the reliability and resolution of sensory systems. It is generally thought that response variability in the visual system increases at cortical levels, but the causes of the variability have not been identified. We have measured the response variability of neurons in primary visual cortex (V1) of alert monkeys. We recorded from 80 single cells distributed over all V1 layers and from 8 parvocellular cells of the lateral geniculate nucleus. All cells were stimulated with a bar of near-optimal orientation, color, and dimensions while continuously monitoring the eye movements of fixation. To minimize the effects of eye movements, responses that occurred while the eye was relatively steady were selected for analysis. The impulses elicited by each stimulus presentation were counted, and the variance and coefficient of variation were computed. Both measures of response variability were much lower than reported previously for V1 cells of both alert and anesthetized monkeys. Our data show that fixational eye movements cause a large component of response variance in alert monkeys. Moreover, the reliability of V1 neurons is not obviously degraded compared with lateral geniculate nucleus cells. The high reliability of neurons in alert monkeys is consistent with expectations from conventional biophysical models, and it suggests that activity in a modest number of neurons may suffice to form a perceptual decision.
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Non-sensory factors such as behavioral state, motor activity, and cross-modal influences affect sensory processing and may together increase response variability.
“Many non-sensory factors affect sensory processing, including behavioral state, motor activity and cross-modal influences (Gur et al., 1997), and their effects may collectively promote response variability (Ecker and Tolias, 2014; Goris et al., 2014; I-Chun et al., 2015).”
From Waking state: rapid variations modulate neural and behavioral responses (2015) · cites this paper as Gur et al., 1997
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- Authors
- Gur, M., Beylin, A., & Snodderly, D. M.
- Affiliations
- Technion – Israel Institute of Technology (IL)
- Harvard University (US)
- Venue
- The Journal of Neuroscience
- Publisher
- Society for Neuroscience
- Published
- 1997-04-15
- Volume
- 17
- Issue
- 8
- Pages
- 2914-2920
- ISSN
- 0270-6474 (ISSN-L)
- 1529-2401
- PMC
- PMC6573112
- OpenAlex
- W1885232817
- Cited by
- 277
- References
- 37
- Citations by year
- 2026: 9 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 13 · 2015: 7 · 2014: 9 · 2013: 2 · 2012: 13
- FWCI
- 6.73
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Journal of Neuroscience (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Visual perception and processing mechanisms
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural dynamics and brain function
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neuroscience and Neuropharmacology Research
- Keywords
- response variability, primary visual cortex, fixational eye movements, coefficient of variation, lateral geniculate nucleus, single-unit recording, perceptual decision making
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Color Perception, Eye Movements, Female, Geniculate Bodies, Macaca fascicularis, Macaca mulatta, Neurons, Regression Analysis, Space Perception, Vision, Ocular, Visual Cortex, Visual Perception, Wakefulness
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