Topic: modular activity

Modular (columnar) activity is a fundamental mode of neural activity in the cortex of primates and carnivores. Work in ferret visual cortex has shown that already prior to visual experience, early spontaneous activity is modular, revealing large-scale correlated networks that are predictive of future functional networks representing stimulus orientation. However, the origin of modular activity in the early cortex is unclear at present. Computational models predict a striking ability of developing intracortical circuits to self-organize into modular, coordinated patterns of activity which refle

Columnar organization is the hallmark of mature visual cortex in primates and carnivores, and is often assumed to be unique to those areas. Such an organization is already evident in the developing visual cortex (V1) well before eye-opening, where correlated modular spontaneous activity predicts future sensory-evoked representations. The multiple computational models proposed to account for this modular activity suggest several biologically plausible regimes which can produce modular activity and long-range correlations. Notably, these potential mechanisms are highly unlikely to be specific in