Coherence as an organizing principle of cortical functions.

This chapter discusses the dynamics of neuronal interactions in the neocortex and on the mechanisms of use-dependent synaptic plasticity of neocortical connections, binding problems, predictions, experimental testing of predictions, experience-dependent modifications of cortico-cortical connections and synchronization probabilities, correlation between perceptual deficits and response synchronization in strabismic amblyopia, and the significance of synchrony in neuronal processing and read-out mechanisms. The results indicate clearly that synchronization probability depends not only on the spatial segregation of cells and on their feature preferences but also, to a crucial extent, on the configuration of the stimuli. In mammals, the cortico-cortical connections develop mainly postnatally and attain their final specificity through an activity-dependent selection process. The functional correlate of these changes in the architecture of cortico-cortical connections is a modification of synchronization probabilities. Utilizing synchrony as a code in addition to rate and place codes could be advantageous because it provides the important option to define, in a flexible and dynamic way, the relations among distributed neurons and to enhance simultaneously the saliency of the ensemble of cells distinguished by these relations.