Although temporal coding is a frequent topic of neurophysiology research, trial-to-trial variability in temporal codes is typically dismissed as noise and thought to play no role in sensory function. Here, we show that much of this supposed "noise" faithfully reflects stimulus-related processes carried out in coherent neural networks. Cortical neurons responded to sensory stimuli by progressing through sequences of states, identifiable only in examinations of simultaneously recorded ensembles. The specific times at which ensembles transitioned from state to state varied from trial to trial, but the state sequences were reliable and stimulus-specific. Thus, the characterization of ensemble responses in terms of state sequences captured facets of sensory processing that are missing from, and obscured in, other analyses. This work provides evidence that sensory neurons act as parts of a systems-level dynamic process, the nature of which can best be appreciated through observation of distributed ensembles.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 4. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 15 May 2018.
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Altmetric has tracked 34,360,889 research outputs across all sources so far. This one has received more attention than most of these and is in the 67th percentile.
So far Altmetric has tracked 118,929 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 40.1. This one is in the 32nd percentile – i.e., 32% of its peers scored the same or lower than it.
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We're also able to compare this research output to 659 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one is in the 33rd percentile – i.e., 33% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.
