Neuro Forum Equalization and decorrelation in primary visual cortex

Haak KV, Fast E, Baek Y, Mesik J. Equalization and decorrelation in primary visual cortex. J Neurophysiol 112: 501–503, 2014. First published February 26, 2014; doi:10.1152/jn.00521.2013.— There are many theories on the purpose of neural adaptation, but evidence remains elusive. Here, we discuss the recent work by Benucci et al. (Nat Neurosci 16: 724–729, 2013), who measured for the first time the immediate effects of adaptation on the overall activity of a neuronal population. These measurements confirm two long-standing hypotheses about the purpose of adaptation, namely that adaptation counteracts biases in the statistics of the environment, and that it maintains decorrelation in neuronal stimulus selectivity.