A hierarchy of intrinsic timescales across primate cortex

• Published in: Nature neuroscience Vol. 17; no. 12; pp. 1661 - 1663
• Main Authors: Murray, John D, Bernacchia, Alberto, Freedman, David J, Romo, Ranulfo, Wallis, Jonathan D, Cai, Xinying, Padoa-Schioppa, Camillo, Pasternak, Tatiana, Seo, Hyojung, Lee, Daeyeol, Wang, Xiao-Jing
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Nature Publishing Group US 01.12.2014; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 631/378/116/2393; Action Potentials - physiology; Animal Genetics and Genomics; Animals; Behavioral Sciences; Biological Techniques; Biomedicine; brief-communication; Cerebral cortex; Cerebral Cortex - physiology; Datasets; Female; Macaca; Male; Monkeys & apes; Neurobiology; Neurological research; Neurophysiology; Neurosciences; Photic Stimulation - methods; Physiological aspects; Primates; Psychomotor Performance - physiology; Specialization; Time Factors; New York; Mexico; California; United States > US
• ISSN: 1097-6256; 1546-1726; 1546-1726
• DOI: 10.1038/nn.3862

Primate cortex can be organized with specialization and hierarchical principles, but presently there is little evidence for how it is organized temporally. Across six separate datasets, the authors find a hierarchical ordering of intrinsic fluctuation of spiking activity, with timescales that increase from sensory to prefrontal areas. Specialization and hierarchy are organizing principles for primate cortex, yet there is little direct evidence for how cortical areas are specialized in the temporal domain. We measured timescales of intrinsic fluctuations in spiking activity across areas and found a hierarchical ordering, with sensory and prefrontal areas exhibiting shorter and longer timescales, respectively. On the basis of our findings, we suggest that intrinsic timescales reflect areal specialization for task-relevant computations over multiple temporal ranges.