An exploration of the ability of macaques to detect microstimulation of striate cortex
- PMID: 7435271
An exploration of the ability of macaques to detect microstimulation of striate cortex
Abstract
With its head steadied within a form-fitting mask, a macaque was first taught to signal when it detected the application of 0.2-ms electrical pulses at 50 Hz through electrodes chronically implanted within its striate cortex. Stimuli were then applied via a movable microelectrode and the threshold for the animals detection determined at intervals of 50-250 micrometers. With permanently implanted 130- 200-micrometers diameter electrodes such thresholds range between 50 and 250 microamperes (and are highly stable), whereas with the microelectrodes sites were encountered, estimated to be primarily within cortical layers V-VI, where the monkey could reliably detect as little as 2-4 microamperes. The threshold at most sites within striate cortex with the microelectrode, however, was 15-25 microamperes. Background unit activity recorded with the microelectrode varied greatly in different laminae and survived the microstimulation, but has so far provided no clear basis for predicting threshold. It is tentatively hypothesized that the relatively rare points where the threshold is as much as 10 times less than that in the surround arise because the giant, solitary cells of Meynert provide the exclusively effective output for the behavioral response. This hypothesis would also explain the singular uniformity of sensation (a "phosphene") evoked in human subjects by such stimuli, and the equivalence of all such stimuli in striate cortex found for the macaque.
Similar articles
-
Background luminance affects the detection of microampere currents delivered to macaque striate cortex.Eur J Neurosci. 2009 Jul;30(2):263-71. doi: 10.1111/j.1460-9568.2009.06810.x. Epub 2009 Jun 25. Eur J Neurosci. 2009. PMID: 19558620
-
What delay fields tell us about striate cortex.J Neurophysiol. 2007 Aug;98(2):559-76. doi: 10.1152/jn.00285.2007. Epub 2007 Jun 13. J Neurophysiol. 2007. PMID: 17567774 Review.
-
Psychophysics of electrical stimulation of striate cortex in macaques.J Neurophysiol. 2005 Nov;94(5):3430-42. doi: 10.1152/jn.00406.2005. Epub 2005 Aug 3. J Neurophysiol. 2005. PMID: 16079195
-
Laminar variation in threshold for detection of electrical excitation of striate cortex by macaques.J Neurophysiol. 2005 Nov;94(5):3443-50. doi: 10.1152/jn.00407.2005. Epub 2005 Aug 3. J Neurophysiol. 2005. PMID: 16079194
-
Phosphene induction and the generation of saccadic eye movements by striate cortex.J Neurophysiol. 2005 Jan;93(1):1-19. doi: 10.1152/jn.00736.2004. Epub 2004 Sep 15. J Neurophysiol. 2005. PMID: 15371496 Review.
Cited by
-
The influence of cortical activity on perception depends on behavioral state and sensory context.Nat Commun. 2024 Mar 19;15(1):2456. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-46484-5. Nat Commun. 2024. PMID: 38503769 Free PMC article.
-
Multichannel stimulation module as a tool for animal studies on cortical neural prostheses.Front Med Technol. 2022 Sep 13;4:927581. doi: 10.3389/fmedt.2022.927581. eCollection 2022. Front Med Technol. 2022. PMID: 36176924 Free PMC article.
-
Percepts evoked by multi-electrode stimulation of human visual cortex.Brain Stimul. 2022 Sep-Oct;15(5):1163-1177. doi: 10.1016/j.brs.2022.08.007. Epub 2022 Aug 17. Brain Stimul. 2022. PMID: 35985472 Free PMC article.
-
Controlling Visually Guided Behavior by Holographic Recalling of Cortical Ensembles.Cell. 2019 Jul 11;178(2):447-457.e5. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2019.05.045. Epub 2019 Jun 27. Cell. 2019. PMID: 31257030 Free PMC article.
-
Brain Machine Interfaces for Vision Restoration: The Current State of Cortical Visual Prosthetics.Neurotherapeutics. 2019 Jan;16(1):134-143. doi: 10.1007/s13311-018-0660-1. Neurotherapeutics. 2019. PMID: 30194614 Free PMC article. Review.
Publication types
MeSH terms
Grants and funding
LinkOut - more resources
Full Text Sources