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The cortex as a central pattern generator

Nature Reviews Neuroscience volume 6, pages 477–483 (2005)Cite this article

Abstract

Vertebrate spinal cord and brainstem central pattern generator (CPG) circuits share profound similarities with neocortical circuits. CPGs can produce meaningful functional output in the absence of sensory inputs. Neocortical circuits could be considered analogous to CPGs as they have rich spontaneous dynamics that, similar to CPGs, are powerfully modulated or engaged by sensory inputs, but can also generate output in their absence. We find compelling evidence for this argument at the anatomical, biophysical, developmental, dynamic and pathological levels of analysis. Although it is possible that cortical circuits are particularly plastic types of CPG ('learning CPGs'), we argue that present knowledge about CPGs is likely to foretell the basic principles of the organization and dynamic function of cortical circuits.

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Figure 1: Similarities between vertebrate central pattern generators and neocortical circuits.

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Acknowledgements

This review resulted from the 2004 Dahlem Workshop entitled 'Microcircuits: the interface between neurons and global brain function'. We thank the organizers and co-participants in this workshop for their input, and the anonymous reviewers for their constructive criticisms. Work in our laboratories is supported by the Kavli Institute for Brain Science (R.Y.), the National Institutes of Health (R.Y., J.N.M. and J.S.) and the Swedish Science Council (A.L.).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. the Department of Biological Sciences, Columbia University, 1212 Amsterdam Avenue, Box 2435, 10027, New York, USA

    Rafael Yuste & Jason N. MacLean

  2. the Cellular and Systems Neurobiology Section, Laboratory of Neural Control, Porter Neuroscience Research Center, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, 20892, Maryland, USA

    Jeffrey Smith

  3. the Department of Computer Science and Communication, Stockholm University and Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm, SE-100 44, Sweden

    Anders Lansner

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Yuste, R., MacLean, J., Smith, J. et al. The cortex as a central pattern generator. Nat Rev Neurosci 6, 477–483 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn1686

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