Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Brief Communication
  • Published:

Millisecond-scale differences in neural activity in auditory cortex can drive decisions

Nature Neuroscience volume 11, pages 1262–1263 (2008)Cite this article

Abstract

Neurons in the auditory cortex can lock to the fine timing of acoustic stimuli with millisecond precision, but it is not known whether this precise spike timing can be used to guide decisions. We used chronically implanted microelectrode pairs to stimulate neurons in the rat auditory cortex directly and found that rats can exploit differences in the timing of cortical activity that are as short as 3 ms to guide decisions.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Finely timed cortical microstimulation can drive behavior.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Harper, N.S. & McAlpine, D. Nature 430, 682–686 (2004).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Heil, P. J. Neurophysiol. 77, 2616–2641 (1997).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. DeWeese, M.R., Wehr, M. & Zador, A.M. J. Neurosci. 23, 7940–7949 (2003).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Buracas, G.T., Zador, A.M., DeWeese, M.R. & Albright, T.D. Neuron 20, 959–969 (1998).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Mountcastle, V.B., Talbot, W.H., Sakata, H. & Hyvarinen, J. J. Neurophysiol. 32, 452–484 (1969).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Panzeri, S., Petersen, R.S., Schultz, S.R., Lebedev, M. & Diamond, M.E. Neuron 29, 769–777 (2001).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Mainen, Z.F. & Sejnowski, T.J. Science 268, 1503–1506 (1995).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Wehr, M. & Zador, A.M. Nature 426, 442–446 (2003).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Houweling, A.R. & Brecht, M. Nature 451, 65–68 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Huber, D. et al. Nature 451, 61–64 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Murphey, D.K. & Maunsell, J.H. Curr. Biol. 17, 862–867 (2007).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Salzman, C.D., Britten, K.H. & Newsome, W.T. Nature 346, 174–177 (1990).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Uchida, N. & Mainen, Z.F. Nat. Neurosci. 6, 1224–1229 (2003).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Romo, R., Hernandez, A., Zainos, A. & Salinas, E. Nature 392, 387–390 (1998).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Luna, R., Hernandez, A., Brody, C.D. & Romo, R. Nat. Neurosci. 8, 1210–1219 (2005).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank R. Eifert and B. Burbach for technical assistance, A. Kepecs and Z. Mainen for comments on the manuscript, and members of the Zador lab for helpful discussions.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, 1 Bungtown Road, Cold Spring Harbor, New York 11724, USA.,

    Yang Yang, Michael R DeWeese, Gonzalo H Otazu & Anthony M Zador

  2. Program in Neuroscience, SUNY at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, 11794–5230, New York, USA

    Yang Yang

  3. Physics Department and Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California at Berkeley, 132 Barker Hall, #3190, Berkeley, 94720, California, USA

    Michael R DeWeese

Authors
  1. Yang Yang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Michael R DeWeese
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Gonzalo H Otazu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Anthony M Zador
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Anthony M Zador.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Text and Figures

Supplementary Figures 1–3 and Supplementary Methods (PDF 532 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Yang, Y., DeWeese, M., Otazu, G. et al. Millisecond-scale differences in neural activity in auditory cortex can drive decisions. Nat Neurosci 11, 1262–1263 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.2211

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.2211

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing