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Science 25 June 2004:
Vol. 304. no. 5679, pp. 1989 - 1992
DOI: 10.1126/science.1093318
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Reports

Layer-Specific Somatosensory Cortical Activation During Active Tactile Discrimination

David J. Krupa,1* Michael C. Wiest,1 Marshall G. Shuler,1{dagger} Mark Laubach,2 Miguel A. L. Nicolelis1

Ensemble neuronal activity was recorded in each layer of the whisker area of the primary somatosensory cortex (SI) while rats performed a whisker-dependent tactile discrimination task. Comparison of this activity with SI activity evoked by similar passive whisker stimulation revealed fundamental differences in tactile signal processing during active and passive stimulation. Moreover, significant layer-specific functional differences in SI activity were observed during active discrimination. These differences could not be explained solely by variations in ascending thalamocortical input to SI. Instead, these results suggest that top-down influences during active discrimination may alter the overall functional nature of SI as well as layer-specific mechanisms of tactile processing.

1 Department of Neurobiology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710, USA.
2 The John B. Pierce Laboratory, 290 Congress Avenue, New Haven, CT 06519, USA.



{dagger} Present address: MIT/The Picower Center for Learning and Memory, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: krupa{at}neuro.duke.edu

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