Oscillatory Neuronal Activity in Visual Cortex: A Critical Re-Evaluation

This review is centered on visually evoked oscillations in visual cortex and their relevance to sensory integration and cortical functioning. Although the 40 Hz rhythms have been described in much detail using local field potential or EEG recordings, their origin at the cellular level and their significance remain controversial. Moreover, their precise relationship with synchronization processes is still unknown. Several central issues are discussed, concerning the potential roles of oscillations in temporal coding and/or the binding of feature processing, their frequency spectrum, their stimulus dependency and the cellular mechanisms which subtend their organization at the cortical level.

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