耶鲁大学医学院Jessica A. Cardin团队取得一项新突破。他们的最新研究提出了离散伽马事件的灵活感知编码。相关论文发表在2025年10月8日出版的《自然》杂志上。

在这里，研究人员开发了一种新的分析方法，将模式活动分解为离散的网络事件，并将这种方法用于跟踪伽马活动(30-80 Hz)在同主题视觉皮层（V1）。该课题组研究人员发现伽马事件率随芳香性而变化，单个事件可以在短暂的振荡发作中发生，但也可以孤立地发生。单独的事件同步跨层的神经活动，促进增强的视觉编码。V1 γ事件可由背外侧膝状核（dLGN）的模式输入引起，并被dLGN的光遗传调节所抑制，这表明它们支持视信息的丘脑皮质整合。在行为正常的小鼠中，伽马事件率在视觉提示的行为反应之前稳步上升，预测了每次试验的表现。抑制V1伽马事件会损害视觉检测性能，而唤起它们则会引发行为反应。伽马事件和行为之间的这种关系是特定于感觉模态的，并被任务目标的变化迅速调节。伽马事件支持根据行为背景对视觉信息进行灵活的编码。

据介绍，行为背后的认知过程与新皮层中特定的神经活动时空模式有关。这些模式产生于同步突触活动，通常被分析为振荡，但也可能表现出不易察觉的非周期动态。

附：英文原文

Title: Flexible perceptual encoding by discrete gamma events

Author: Perrenoud, Quentin, de O. Fonseca, Antonio H., Airhart, Austin, Bonanno, James, Mao, Rong, Cardin, Jessica A.

Issue&Volume: 2025-10-08

Abstract: Cognitive processes underlying behaviour are linked to specific spatiotemporal patterns of neural activity in the neocortex1,2,3,4,5,6. These patterns arise from synchronous synaptic activity7 and are often analysed as oscillations, but may also display aperiodic dynamics that are not well detected. Here we develop a novel analytical method decomposing patterned activity into discrete network events and use this approach to track gamma activity (30–80Hz) in the mouse visual cortex (V1). We find that the gamma event rate varies with arousal and individual events can cluster in brief oscillatory bouts but also occur in isolation. Individual events synchronize neural firing across layers and promote enhanced visual encoding. V1 gamma events are evoked by patterned input from the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus (dLGN) and suppressed by optogenetic modulation of the dLGN, suggesting that they support thalamocortical integration of visual information. In behaving mice, the gamma event rate increases steadily before visually cued behavioural responses, predicting trial-by-trial performance. Suppressing V1 gamma events impairs visual detection performance, whereas evoking them elicits a behavioural response. This relationship between gamma events and behaviour is sensory modality specific and rapidly modulated by changes in task objectives. Gamma events thus support a flexible encoding of visual information according to behavioural context.

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-09604-9

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09604-9