Abstract
To investigate how visual information is coded by cell populations, we simultaneously recorded light-evoked spike discharges from multiple OFF-sustained type ganglion cells (the dimming detectors) of the frog retina using a planar multi-electrode array. Auto- and cross-correlation analyses were performed to evaluate temporal properties of the spike trains. With full-field, sinusoidally modulated diffuse illumination, cross-correlation analysis revealed the presence of long-range synchronous oscillations. The strength of the synchronous oscillations depended on the spatial properties of the light stimulus, which extended far beyond the "classical" receptive field that is defined by the spike discharge rate. These results suggest that synchronous oscillations may encode global features of visual stimuli and play a key role in perceptual integration.
