加州大学Doris Y. Tsao团队开发出颞下皮层神经密码的快速协调转换。2026年3月25日出版的《自然》杂志发表了这项成果。

课题组报告提出，调谐可以在神经群体中快速连贯地转移，从而实现从检测广泛类别到区分单个样本的动态过渡。该课题组研究人员着手解决视觉神经科学中一个长期存在的争论，即颞下皮层是为特定对象类别设置专门代码还是适用于所有对象的通用代码。小组发现猕猴颞下皮层的人脸选择细胞最初采用了一种优化的人脸检测通用代码。

然而，在持续时间不到20毫秒的快速协同群体事件之后，神经编码转换为特定于人脸的编码，具有两个显著特征：对主要检测相关维度的响应梯度方向相反，以及支持精细人脸识别的多个高维特征出现了新的调谐。这些面部斑块的动态是特定于面部刺激的，而不会发生在非面部物体的反应中。对于人脸，人脸细胞通过从对象通用代码切换到特定的人脸代码，从检测到识别转换。更广泛地说，他们的发现表明，存在一种以前未知的神经表征机制：以皮层区域为主题的神经编码的协同刺激依赖转换。

据了解，神经科学的一个基本范例是，神经元通过固定的调谐函数来代表世界，具有从刺激特征到放电速率的稳定映射。

附：英文原文

Title: Rapid concerted switching of the neural code in the inferotemporal cortex

Author: Shi, Yuelin, Bi, Dasheng, Hesse, Janis K., Lanfranchi, Frank F., Chen, Shi, Tsao, Doris Y.

Issue&Volume: 2026-03-25

Abstract: A fundamental paradigm in neuroscience is that neurons represent the world through fixed tuning functions, with stable mappings from stimulus features to firing rates1. Here, we report that tuning can instead shift rapidly and coherently across a neural population, enabling a dynamic transition from detecting a broad category to discriminating individual exemplars. We set out to address a longstanding debate in visual neuroscience about whether the inferotemporal cortex uses a specialized code for specific object categories or a general-purpose code that applies to all objects. We found that face-selective cells in macaque inferotemporal cortex initially adopted a general code optimized for face detection. However, after a rapid concerted population event lasting less than 20ms, the neural code transformed into a face-specific one, with two striking features: response gradients to principal detection-related dimensions reversed direction, and new tuning emerged for multiple higher-dimensional features that support fine face discrimination. These dynamics in face patches were specific to face stimuli and did not occur in response to non-face objects. Thus, for faces, face cells transition from detection to discrimination by switching from an object-general code to a face-specific one. More broadly, our findings indicate that there is a previously unknown mechanism for neural representation: concerted stimulus-dependent switching of the neural code used by a cortical area.

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-026-10267-3

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-10267-3