Coding signal strength by correlated activity inbursting neurons

Understanding how populations of neurons encode sensory information is of critical importance [1]. Correlations between the activities of neurons are ubiquitous in the central nervous system and, although their implications for encoding and decoding of sensory information has been the subject of arduous debates, there is a general consensus that their effects can be significant [2]. As such, there is great interest in understanding how correlated activity can be regulated. Recent experimental evidence has shown that correlated activity amongst pyramidal cells within the electrosensory lateral line lobe (ELL) of weakly electric fish can be regulated based on the behavioral context: these cells modulate their correlated activity depending on whether the fish is performing electrolocation or communication tasks without changing the mean firing rate of their response [3]. Moreover, it was shown in the same study that the changes in correlated activity were correlated with changes in bursting dynamics