DYNAMICS OF NEURONAL INTERACTIONS - RELATION TO BEHAVIOR, FIRING RATES, AND DISTANCE BETWEEN NEURONS

This report describes exploration of the hypothesis that cortical func tion is mediated by dynamic modulation of coherent firing in groups of neurons. We recorded neuronal activity in the frontal cortex of behav ing monkeys and found that correlation between neurons changed frequen tly within a fraction of a second and in relation to behavior. Those m odulations can happen without modulation of firing rates. When firing rates are modulated, the modulation of correlation is not related to i t in a simple way. Moreover, the dynamic patterns of correlation depen d on the distance between neurons. These findings support the notion t hat, in order to perform a computational task, neurons can associate r apidly into a functional group, while dissociating from concurrently a ctivated competing groups. (C) 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.