Diverse synchrony of firing reflects diverse cell-assembly coding in the prefrontal cortex

Publication date: December 2013 Source:Journal of Physiology-Paris, Volume 107, Issue 6 Author(s): Yoshio Sakurai , Tomoaki Nakazono , Seiya Ishino , Satoshi Terada , Kenji Yamaguchi , Susumu Takahashi In the present paper, we focus on the coding by cell assemblies in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and discuss the diversity of the coding, which results in stable and dynamic representations and the processing of various information in that higher brain region. The key activity that reflects cell-assembly coding is the synchrony of the firing of multiple neurons when animals are performing cognitive and memory tasks. First, we introduce some studies that have shown task-related synchrony of neuronal firing in the monkey PFC. These studies have reported fixed and several types of dynamic synchronous firing during working memory, long-term visual memory, and goal selection. The results of these studies have indicated that cell assemblies in the PFC can contribute to both the stability and the dynamics of various types of information. Second, we refer to rat studies and introduce the findings of cellular interactions that contribute to synchrony in working memory, learning-induced changes in synchrony in spatial tasks, and interactions of the PFC and hippocampus in dynamic synchrony. These studies have proposed neuronal mechanisms of cell-assembly coding in the PFC and its critical role in the learning of task demands in problematic situations. Based on the monkey and rat s...
Source: Journal of Physiology Paris - Category: Physiology Source Type: research