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Research Article

Category-selective phase coding in the superior temporal sulcus

Hjalmar K. Turesson, Nikos K. Logothetis, and Kari L. Hoffman
  1. aCenter for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Newark, NJ 07102;
  2. bMax Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, 72076 Tuebingen, Germany; and
  3. cDepartments of Psychology and Biology and Centre for Vision Research, York University, Toronto, ON, Canada M3J 1P3

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PNAS first published November 6, 2012; https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1217012109
Hjalmar K. Turesson
aCenter for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Newark, NJ 07102;
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Nikos K. Logothetis
bMax Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, 72076 Tuebingen, Germany; and
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  • For correspondence: nikos.logothetis@tuebingen.mpg.de khoffman@yorku.ca
Kari L. Hoffman
cDepartments of Psychology and Biology and Centre for Vision Research, York University, Toronto, ON, Canada M3J 1P3
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  • For correspondence: nikos.logothetis@tuebingen.mpg.de khoffman@yorku.ca
  1. Contributed by Nikos K. Logothetis, October 11, 2012 (sent for review July 12, 2012)

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Abstract

Object perception and categorization can occur so rapidly that behavioral responses precede or co-occur with the firing rate changes in the object-selective neocortex. Phase coding could, in principle, support rapid representation of object categories, whereby the first spikes evoked by a stimulus would appear at different phases of an oscillation, depending on the object category. To determine whether object-selective regions of the neo-cortex demonstrate phase coding, we presented images of faces and objects to two monkeys while recording local field potentials (LFP) and single unit activity from object-selective regions in the upper bank superior temporal sulcus. Single units showed preferred phases of firing that depended on stimulus category, emerging with the initiation of spiking responses after stimulus onset. Differences in phase of firing were seen below 20 Hz and in the gamma and high-gamma frequency ranges. For all but the <20-Hz cluster, phase differences remained category-specific even when controlling for stimulus-locked activity, revealing that phase-specific firing is not a simple consequence of category-specific differences in the evoked responses of the LFP. In addition, we tested for firing rate-to-phase conversion. Category-specific differences in firing rates accounted for 30–40% of the explained variance in phase occurring at lower frequencies (<20 Hz) during the initial response, but was limited (<20% of the explained variance) in the 30- to 60-Hz frequency range, suggesting that gamma phase-of-firing effects reflect more than evoked LFP and firing rate responses. The present results are consistent with theoretical models of rapid object processing and extend previous observations of phase coding to include object-selective neocortex.

  • category coding
  • primate
  • visual perception

Footnotes

  • ↵1To whom correspondence may be addressed. E-mail: nikos.logothetis{at}tuebingen.mpg.de or khoffman{at}yorku.ca.
  • Author contributions: K.L.H. designed research; H.K.T. and K.L.H. performed research; H.K.T. contributed new reagents/analytic tools; H.K.T. and K.L.H. analyzed data; and H.K.T., N.K.L., and K.L.H. wrote the paper.

  • The authors declare no conflict of interest.

  • This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/lookup/suppl/doi:10.1073/pnas.1217012109/-/DCSupplemental.

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Phase coding in STS
Hjalmar K. Turesson, Nikos K. Logothetis, Kari L. Hoffman
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Nov 2012, 201217012; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1217012109

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Phase coding in STS
Hjalmar K. Turesson, Nikos K. Logothetis, Kari L. Hoffman
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Nov 2012, 201217012; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1217012109
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