Bursting on the Scene How Thalamic Neurons Grab Your Attention 英文参考文献.docVIP

Bursting on the Scene: HowThalamic Neurons Grab Your Attention Jami Milton Dantzker | DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.0040250 Certain salient features in a visual scene grab our attention, such as a tiger emerging from a ?eld of tall grass, after which we may spend more time taking in the details. Both ways of experiencing the world are automatic, and the neurons that make up the brain’s visual system switch between these two modes continuously. But the exact neurons and mechanisms responsible are still a mystery to neuroscientists. brain, shuttling information between sensory neurons and the cerebral cortex. Thalamic neurons in the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) respond to visual scenes in two distinct modes: sustained and regular tonic responses and short, rapid bursts. Neuroscientists have long been curious about the role of these distinct ?ring modes in processing visual information, and whether certain features in a visual scene elicit them. To better understand the function of bursts, Nicholas Lesica, Garrett Stanley, and colleagues investigate the interplay between external stimuli and intrinsic physiological membrane properties in modulating LGN burst responses. In a new study, they record LGN neuron activity in response to sequences of movies showing natural scenes that vary in luminance, then mathematically simulate the neurons’ response properties under different intrinsic physiological states, and with or without the burst mechanism. The researchers incorporated several well-established properties of LGN neurons into their model. For example, bursting is known to depend on a fundamental physiological feature, a neuron’s membrane potential. The membrane potential refers to the electrical potential, or voltage, across the membrane resulting from a balance of negatively and positively charged ions, such as calcium. When neurons are at rest, they sit at a negative, Based on their physiological properties and connectivity, neurons in the region of