A Strong Constraint to the Joint Processing of Pairs of Cortical Signals
Open accessAbstract
An important question in neuroscience is how the activity from spatially distributed cortical representations is integrated and processed together. In this study, we used a new approach to investigate the integration of distributed cortical activity. We used microstimulation to directly activate pairs of sites in primary visual cortex of rhesus monkeys. The sites were activated either singly or jointly, and the monkeys were trained to behaviorally report detection of the activation of either cortical site. We compared the detection performance with predictions from two different mathematical models of signal combination. Our data show that, at cortical separations <1 mm, signal integration is well described as a linear combination (d' summation) of individual site activity. At larger separations, signal integration is better described as a maximum operation on the site signals. We compare our neurophysiological findings to existing psychophysical data and suggest the intriguing possibility that cortical activity originating at spatial separations greater than ∼1 mm is processed as if by parallel, independent circuits whose signals can be compared against each other but not summed. This in turn implies that there is a strong constraint to the kinds of computations the brain can perform with spatially distributed cortical activity.
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The assumptions of independence and linear summation seem to hold for intracortical electrodes separated by more than 1 mm.
“These assumptions seem to hold for intracortical electrodes separated by more than 1 mm (Ghose and Maunsell, 2012), but may underestimate the complexities observed when electrodes are nearer.”
From Towards biologically plausible phosphene simulation for the differentiable optimization of visual cortical prostheses (2024) · cites this paper as Ghose and Maunsell, 2012
The Discussion says linear summation is consistent with sites within 1 mm, whereas sites at greater distances are consistent with a MAX operation on individual signals. Independent processing at greater distances is consistent with the paper, but the claim that linear summation also holds there reverses its central finding. Page numbers are unavailable in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.88)
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Cites
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
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“These assumptions seem to hold for intracortical electrodes separated by more than 1 mm ( Ghose and Maunsell, 2012 ), but may underestimate the complexities observed when electrodes are nearer.”
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Self-citation
- Authors
- Ghose, K., & Maunsell, J. H. R.
- Affiliations
- Harvard University (US)
- Venue
- The Journal of Neuroscience
- Publisher
- Society for Neuroscience
- Published
- 2012-11-07
- Volume
- 32
- Issue
- 45
- Pages
- 15922-15933
- ISSN
- 0270-6474 (ISSN-L)
- 1529-2401
- PMC
- PMC3509501
- OpenAlex
- W2074135419
- Cited by
- 11
- References
- 6
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 1 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 3 · 2015: 2 · 2014: 1
- FWCI
- 0.49
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Journal of Neuroscience (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute
- National Institutes of Health
- National Eye Institute (R01EY005911)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Visual perception and processing mechanisms
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural dynamics and brain function
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Multisensory perception and integration
- Keywords
- primary visual cortex, microstimulation, signal integration, spatial separation, rhesus monkeys, visual detection
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Behavior, Animal, Brain Mapping, Electric Stimulation, Electroencephalography, Macaca mulatta, Male, Models, Neurological, Reaction Time, Visual Cortex, Visual Pathways, Signal Detection, Psychological
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