3 ms·
One theory is that the waves themselves don’t carry much information, but set the stage for other kinds of transmission or computation. In the rodent hippocamp
by mattkrause 8y ago
One theory is that the waves themselves don’t carry much information, but set the stage for other kinds of transmission or computation.
In the rodent hippocampus, for example, theta oscillations (3-7ish Hz) don’t tell you much about the animals’ spatial position. The spiking rate of place cells contains some information about where the animal is, but it’s fairly coarse. However, combining spiking and the phase of the slow oscillation (e.g., cell is firing at the trough vs peak) provides much more precise information about where the rat is.
A related idea is that oscillations help route information by alternatingly facilitating and suppressing different areas. At one phase of the oscillation, information might preferentially flow from visual areas to higher-level areas. At another, the visual input might be suppressed while memory structures get “their turn to talk.”
- DoctorOetker 8y agonote that my observation is not that the information contained is not "zero usefull information" but "not much usefull informmation". I certainly think a local clock would be usefull, and contains very little information. But any large amount of information density is simply not supported by these observations due to simple wave aspects. A low information signal (for example highly predictable clock, or some other low frequency, high brain volume signal say perhaps a breathing rate not actually the breathing frequency) can still be important. I was only replying to the information processing comment
- mattkrause 8y ago? I…don't see the argument here. I was just trying to provide some actual examples from neuro.