Lecture 1: Introduction, Coding

Question 1

What is the nervous system specialized for?

Answer 1

information transfer and integration

Question 2

What are the signaling mechanisms within an individual neuron, and between connected neurons?

Answer 2

• electrochemical signals and transient membrane potential changes (action potentials)
• chemical synaptic transmission through release of neurotransmitters at synaptic clefts

Question 3

What is information coding?

Answer 3

how the activity of specific neurons reflect a given stimulus or state

Question 4

What is an action potential?

Answer 4

binary, all-or-none signal within individual cells – have coding strategies to encode complex, non-binary information

Question 5

What is rate coding and what information does it give?

Answer 5

different number of spikes can convey information about the stimulus identity, amplitude, and duration

Question 6

What is temporal coding (pattern coding)?

Answer 6

same number of spikes, but in a different temporal organization, can convey information about the stimulus identity and duration

ie. onset/offset of a stimulus
ie. formation of memories
ie. heart rate

Question 7

Other than rate coding and temporal/pattern coding, what are some other coding strategies that neural circuits might employ to encode information?

Answer 7

combination codes

Question 8

What is population coding?

Answer 8

there are many different types

Question 9

What is a receptive field (tuning)?

Answer 9

range of stimuli to which a neuron responds (increase or decrease in activity – can sometimes be a continuous physical space, but not always