Banbury Center Workshop Series Main Page

Neurocomputational Strategies: From Synapses to Behavior (1998)
Functional Organization of the Thalamus and Cortex and their Interactions (1999)
Toward Animal Models of Attention and Consciousness (2000)
Persistent Neural Activity (2000)
Can a Machine Be Conscious? (2001)
Communication in Brain Systems (2004)
Neurobiology of Decision-Making (2005)
Computational Approaches to Cortical Functions (2006)
New Frontiers in Studies of Nonconscious Processing (2007)
Theoretical and Experimental Approaches to Auditory and Visual Attention (2008)

Mike Shelley

High conductance state in a model of visual cortex

New York University

I will discuss the consequences of high, activity-dependent, synaptic Conductances in neurons in a large-scale neuronal network model of layer 4C of Macaque V1. This high conductance state accounts for experimental observations about orientation selectivity, dynamics, and response magnitude, and the linear dependence of simple cells on visual stimuli. These large conductances can be traced to inhibitory cortico-cortical synapses, and the model's predictions of large conductance changes are consistent with recent intracellular measurements. This high-conductance state has functional consequences for temporal coding in cortex, as well as yielding simplified mathematical approaches to understanding neuronal and cortical response.