eprintid: 10061132 rev_number: 17 eprint_status: archive userid: 608 dir: disk0/10/06/11/32 datestamp: 2018-11-19 15:54:59 lastmod: 2021-10-06 22:50:11 status_changed: 2018-11-19 15:54:59 type: article metadata_visibility: show creators_name: Huang, CG creators_name: Metzen, MG creators_name: Chacron, MJ title: Feedback optimizes neural coding and perception of natural stimuli ispublished: pub divisions: UCL divisions: B02 divisions: C07 divisions: D06 note: Copyright © Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) abstract: Growing evidence suggests that sensory neurons achieve optimal encoding by matching their tuning properties to the natural stimulus statistics. However, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Here we demonstrate that feedback pathways from higher brain areas mediate optimized encoding of naturalistic stimuli via temporal whitening in the weakly electric fish Apteronotus leptorhynchus. While one source of direct feedback uniformly enhances neural responses, a separate source of indirect feedback selectively attenuates responses to low frequencies, thus creating a high-pass neural tuning curve that opposes the decaying spectral power of natural stimuli. Additionally, we recorded from two populations of higher brain neurons responsible for the direct and indirect descending inputs. While one population displayed broadband tuning, the other displayed high-pass tuning and thus performed temporal whitening. Hence, our results demonstrate a novel function for descending input in optimizing neural responses to sensory input through temporal whitening that is likely to be conserved across systems and species. date: 2018-10-05 date_type: published official_url: https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.38935.001 oa_status: green full_text_type: pub pmcid: PMC6181564 language: eng primo: open primo_central: open_green verified: verified_manual elements_id: 1600345 doi: 10.7554/eLife.38935.001 pii: 38935 lyricists_name: Huang, Chengjie lyricists_id: CHUAA40 actors_name: Dewerpe, Marie actors_id: MDDEW97 actors_role: owner full_text_status: public publication: eLife volume: 7 article_number: e38935 event_location: England issn: 2050-084X citation: Huang, CG; Metzen, MG; Chacron, MJ; (2018) Feedback optimizes neural coding and perception of natural stimuli. eLife , 7 , Article e38935. 10.7554/eLife.38935.001 <https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.38935.001>. Green open access document_url: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10061132/1/Feedback%20optimizes%20neural%20coding%20and%20perception%20of%20natural%20stimuli.pdf