A Tradeoff in the Neural Code across Regions and Species.
Cell
; 176(3): 597-609.e18, 2019 01 24.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-30661754
ABSTRACT
Many evolutionary years separate humans and macaques, and although the amygdala and cingulate cortex evolved to enable emotion and cognition in both, an evident functional gap exists. Although they were traditionally attributed to differential neuroanatomy, functional differences might also arise from coding mechanisms. Here we find that human neurons better utilize information capacity (efficient coding) than macaque neurons in both regions, and that cingulate neurons are more efficient than amygdala neurons in both species. In contrast, we find more overlap in the neural vocabulary and more synchronized activity (robustness coding) in monkeys in both regions and in the amygdala of both species. Our findings demonstrate a tradeoff between robustness and efficiency across species and regions. We suggest that this tradeoff can contribute to differential cognitive functions between species and underlie the complementary roles of the amygdala and the cingulate cortex. In turn, it can contribute to fragility underlying human psychopathologies.
Key words
Full text:
1
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Gyrus Cinguli
/
Amygdala
/
Neurons
Limits:
Adult
/
Animals
/
Child
/
Child, preschool
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Language:
En
Year:
2019
Type:
Article