A BRIEF-HISTORY OF THE FEATURE DETECTOR

The feature detector hypothesis, and its subsequent development into t he doctrine that single neurons code for perceptually significant even ts, has been the leit-motiv of most work on sensory systems. In the fa ce of strong competition from the alternative theories of neural netwo rks and oscillating ensembles of neurons, the single neuron doctrine r etains its grip on the imagination of those working on the neural mech anisms of perception.