PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Lange, Richard D.
AU  - Haefner, Ralf M.
TI  - Characterizing and interpreting the influence of internal variables on sensory activity
AID  - 10.1101/114439
DP  - 2017 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 114439
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/07/05/114439.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/07/05/114439.full
AB  - The concept of a tuning curve has been central for our understanding of how the responses of cortical neurons depend on external stimuli. Here, we describe how the influence of unobserved internal variables on sensory responses, in particular correlated neural variability, can be understood in a similar framework. We suggest that this will lead to deeper insights into the relationship between stimulus, sensory responses, and behavior. We review related recent work and discuss its implication for distinguishing feedforward from feedback influences on sensory responses, and for the information contained in those responses.HighlightsRe-interpretation of neural correlations in terms of internal variables……can clarify whether they limit or enhance informationInfluence of internal variables can be captured by interpretable ‘tuning functions’Estimation of both internal variables and tuning possible from population recordings