Top-down inputs drive neuronal network rewiring and context-enhanced sensory processing in olfaction

Brain States: Top-Down Influences in Sensory Processing

All cortical and thalamic levels of sensory processing are subject to powerful top-down influences, the shaping of lower-level processes by more complex information. New findings on the diversity of top-down interactions show that cortical areas function as adaptive processors, being subject to attention, expectation, and perceptual task. Brain states are determined by the interactions between ...

Inhibition Mediates Top-Down Control of Sensory Processing

In this issue of Neuron, Hamilton et al. (2013) stimulate identified inhibitory interneurons with optogenetics, revealing powerful control of the flow of sensory responses across cortical layers. During natural behavior, these influences may mediate the rapid adaptive abilities necessary for detection and perception of sensory signals in noisy environments.

Combined LTP and LTD of modulatory inputs controls neuronal processing of primary sensory inputs.

A hallmark of brain organization is the integration of primary and modulatory pathways by principal neurons. However, the pathway interactions that shape primary input processing remain unknown. We investigated this problem in mouse dorsal cochlear nucleus (DCN) where principal cells integrate primary, auditory nerve input with modulatory, parallel fiber input. Using a combined experimental and...

Event-Related Potentials of Bottom-Up and Top-Down Processing of Emotional Faces

Introduction: Emotional stimulus is processed automatically in a bottom-up way or can be processed voluntarily in a top-down way. Imaging studies have indicated that bottom-up and top-down processing are mediated through different neural systems. However, temporal differentiation of top-down versus bottom-up processing of facial emotional expressions has remained to be clarified. The present st...

A Top-Down Model for Neuronal Synchronization