Information Processing by Neuronal Populations

Models and concepts of brain function have always been guided and limited by the available techniques and data. This book brings together a multitude of data from different backgrounds. It addresses questions such as: how do different brain areas interact in the process of channelling information? How do neuronal populations encode the information? How are networks formed and separated or associated with other networks? The authors present data at the single cell level both in vitro and in vivo, at the neuronal population level in vivo comparing field potentials (EEGs) in different brain areas, and also present data from spike recordings from identified neuronal populations during the performance of different tasks. Written for academic researchers and graduate students, the book strives to cover the range of single cell activity analysis to the observation of network activity, and finally to brain area activity and cognitive processes of the brain.

Part I. Introduction: 1. How could populations of neurons encode information? Christian Hölscher; Part II. Organisation of Neuronal Activity in Neuronal Populations: 2. Cellular mechanisms underlying network synchrony in the medial temporal lobe Edward O. Mann and Ole Paulsen; 3. Cell assemblies and serial computation in neural circuits Kenneth D. Harris; 4. Neural population recording in behaving animals: constituents of a neural code for behavioral decisions Robert E. Hampson and Sam A. Deadwyler; 5. Measuring distributed properties of neural representations beyond the decoding of local variables - implications for cognition Adam Johnson, Jadin C. Jackson and A. David Redish; 6. Single-neuron and ensemble contributions to decoding simultaneously recorded spike trains Mark Laubach, Nandakumar S. Narayanan and Eyal Y. Kimchi; Part III. Neuronal Population Information Coding and Plasticity within Brain Areas: 7. Functional roles of Theta and Gamma oscillations in the association and dissociation of neuronal networks in primates and rodents Christian Hölscher; 8. Theta rhythm and bi-directional plasticity in the Hippocampus James Hyman and Michael Hasselmo; 9. Distributed population codes in sensory and memory representations of the neocortex Matthias Munk; 10. The role of neuronal populations in auditory cortex for learning Frank W. Ohl and Henning Scheich; 11. The construction of olfactory representations Thomas A. Cleland; Part IV. Functional Integration of Different Brain Areas in Information Processing and Plasticity: 12. Anatomical, physiological, and pharmacological properties underlying hippocampal sensorimotor integration Brian Bland; 13. A face in the crowd: which groups of neurons encode faces, and how do they interact? Kari L. Hoffman; 14. The role of interactions between prefrontal and visual cortex in learning and memory Kristina J. Nielsen and Gregor Rainer; 15. Gamma-band activity in human MEG during auditory processing Jochen Kaiser and Werner Lutzenberger; Part VI. Disturbances of Population Activity as the Basis of Schizophrenia: 16. Neural co-ordination and psychotic disorganization Andre Fenton; 17. The role of synchronous gamma band activity in schizophrenia Corinna Haenschel; Part VII. Summary and Future Targets: 18. Summary of chapters, conclusion and future targets Christian Hölscher and Matthias Munk.