Ernst Strüngmann Institute (ESI) for Neuroscience in Cooperation with Max Planck Society, Frankfurt, Germany; International Max Planck Research School for Neural Circuits, Frankfurt, Germany
Cem Uran
Ernst Strüngmann Institute (ESI) for Neuroscience in Cooperation with Max Planck Society, Frankfurt, Germany
Johanna Klon-Lipok
Ernst Strüngmann Institute (ESI) for Neuroscience in Cooperation with Max Planck Society, Frankfurt, Germany; Max Planck Institute for Brain Research, Frankfurt, Germany
Rasmus Roese
Ernst Strüngmann Institute (ESI) for Neuroscience in Cooperation with Max Planck Society, Frankfurt, Germany
Sylvia van Stijn
Ernst Strüngmann Institute (ESI) for Neuroscience in Cooperation with Max Planck Society, Frankfurt, Germany; Max Planck Institute for Brain Research, Frankfurt, Germany
Ernst Strüngmann Institute (ESI) for Neuroscience in Cooperation with Max Planck Society, Frankfurt, Germany
Jarrod R Dowdall
Ernst Strüngmann Institute (ESI) for Neuroscience in Cooperation with Max Planck Society, Frankfurt, Germany
Wolf Singer
Ernst Strüngmann Institute (ESI) for Neuroscience in Cooperation with Max Planck Society, Frankfurt, Germany; Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies, Frankfurt, Germany
Ernst Strüngmann Institute (ESI) for Neuroscience in Cooperation with Max Planck Society, Frankfurt, Germany; Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, Netherlands
The integration of direct bottom-up inputs with contextual information is a core feature of neocortical circuits. In area V1, neurons may reduce their firing rates when their receptive field input can be predicted by spatial context. Gamma-synchronized (30–80 Hz) firing may provide a complementary signal to rates, reflecting stronger synchronization between neuronal populations receiving mutually predictable inputs. We show that large uniform surfaces, which have high spatial predictability, strongly suppressed firing yet induced prominent gamma synchronization in macaque V1, particularly when they were colored. Yet, chromatic mismatches between center and surround, breaking predictability, strongly reduced gamma synchronization while increasing firing rates. Differences between responses to different colors, including strong gamma-responses to red, arose from stimulus adaptation to a full-screen background, suggesting prominent differences in adaptation between M- and L-cone signaling pathways. Thus, synchrony signaled whether RF inputs were predicted from spatial context, while firing rates increased when stimuli were unpredicted from context.