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Motor control by precisely timed spike patterns

Kyle H. Srivastava, Caroline M. Holmes, Michiel Vellema, Andrea Pack, Coen P. H. Elemans, Ilya Nemenman, Samuel J. Sober
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/056010
Kyle H. Srivastava
1Biomedical Engineering Doctoral Program, Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
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  • For correspondence: samuel.j.sober@emory.edu
Caroline M. Holmes
2Departments of Physics and Biology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
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  • For correspondence: samuel.j.sober@emory.edu
Michiel Vellema
3Department of Biology, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark
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Andrea Pack
4Neuroscience Doctoral Program and Department of Biology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA,USA
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Coen P. H. Elemans
3Department of Biology, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark
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Ilya Nemenman
2Departments of Physics and Biology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
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Samuel J. Sober
5Department of Biology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
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  • For correspondence: samuel.j.sober@emory.edu
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Summary

A fundamental problem in neuroscience is to understand how sequences of action potentials (“spikes”) encode information about sensory signals and motor outputs. Although traditional theories of neural coding assume that information is conveyed by the total number of spikes fired (spike rate), recent studies of sensory [1–5] and motor [6] activity have shown that far more information is carried by the millisecond-scale timing patterns of action potentials (spike timing). However, it is unknown whether or how subtle differences in spike timing drive differences in perception or behavior, leaving it unclear whether the information carried by spike timing actually plays a causal role in brain function [1]. Here we demonstrate how a precise spike timing code is read out downstream by the muscles to control behavior. We provide both correlative and causal evidence to show that the nervous system uses millisecond-scale variations in the timing of spikes within multi-spike patterns to regulate a relatively simple behavior – respiration in the Bengalese finch, a songbird. These findings suggest that a fundamental assumption of current theories of motor coding requires revision, and that significant improvements in applications, such as neural prosthetic devices, can be achieved by using precise spike timing information.

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The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.
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Posted May 31, 2016.
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Motor control by precisely timed spike patterns
Kyle H. Srivastava, Caroline M. Holmes, Michiel Vellema, Andrea Pack, Coen P. H. Elemans, Ilya Nemenman, Samuel J. Sober
bioRxiv 056010; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/056010
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Motor control by precisely timed spike patterns
Kyle H. Srivastava, Caroline M. Holmes, Michiel Vellema, Andrea Pack, Coen P. H. Elemans, Ilya Nemenman, Samuel J. Sober
bioRxiv 056010; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/056010

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