The systems analysis approach to mechanosensory coding

Abstract

An important problem in neuroscience is to obtain quantitative knowledge of how information is represented, or encoded, in the signals that nerve cells process and transmit. Sensory receptors have provided important models for the study of neural coding because their inputs can often be relatively easily controlled and measured, while the resultant activity is recorded. A variety of engineering concepts have been successfully applied to physiological sciences, particularly those related to control of dynamic systems. Linear systems analysis was one of the earliest methods used to probe sensory coding, and measurements such as step responses and frequency responses have become standard tools for describing sensory functions. Modern systems analysis has evolved to provide accurate and efficient linear identification of encoding in sensory receptors that use either graded potentials or action potentials. It has also led to nonlinear systems analysis, the creation of parametric nonlinear models, and measures of information coding by sensory neurons. These methods promise to provide important new knowledge about sensory systems in the future, especially when complemented with parallel biophysical and molecular studies of sensory neurons. Mechanoreceptors provided some of the earliest preparations for the investigation of neural coding, and both the linear and nonlinear properties of wide variety of vertebrate and invertebrate mechanoreceptors continue to be explored.