Abstract
Oscillatory input to networks, as indicated by field potentials, must entrain neuronal firing to be a causal agent in brain activity. Even when the oscillatory input is prominent, entrainment of firing is not a foregone conclusion but depends on the intrinsic dynamics of the postsynaptic neurons, including cell type-specific resonances, and background firing rates. Within any local network of neurons, only a subset of neurons may have their firing entrained by an oscillating synaptic input, and oscillations of different frequency may engage separate subsets of neurons.
Highlights
Spike-field entrainment local field potential (LFP) oscillations can inform us about communication between brain structures to the extent that they predict the pattern of action potentials in neurons whose axons carry signals from one brain region to the
Frequency components of the field potentials recorded across structures may be out of phase or in phase, and synchronously oscillating brain regions are often interpreted as being more effectively connected than asynchronously oscillating ones, a notion sometimes called “communication through coherence”[3]
Field potentials are taken as an indicator of patterning in the population activity of brain structures and coherent field potentials are taken as indicators of shared or reciprocally generated population activity
Summary
Spiking in both resonant and non-resonant cells is entrained by oscillating inputs at specific frequencies. In non-resonant cells, the frequencies of entrainment are tuned by the cells’ background firing rates, which in turn may be modulated by slower input components. Neurons with similar resonances (for example, cells resonant at gamma frequencies) may be entrained (and synchronized) by their shared resonant frequency, even when it is not prominent in their input (for example, 23,34) This may contribute to the origin of gamma oscillations in the cortex[42]. In each case, the neuron is phase-locked to the frequency component close to its own firing rate and there is little influence from the other stimulus frequency.
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