Neuron ensemble as a unit of information handling

Research has been carried out on the principles of cellular arrangement of the central neural structures by means of simultaneous multimicroelectrode registration on the background and evoked impulse activity of nerve cells at different levels of evolutionary development, and studies of the dynamics of this arrangement have been made in different functional states. This research made it possible to put forward and substantiate the idea of the ensemble arrangement of central nerve structures as being a universal principle of the functioning of highly reliable, flexible brain structures, and a manifestation of nerve-cell coordinated cooperative work. Integration of cells into a nerve-cell ensemble mosaic in response to afferent stimulation has been found in different screen structures of various animals' brains: in the frog's cerebellar cortex, the frog's midbrain tectum, the rat's somatosensory and visual cortices, the guinea pig's visual cortex, the rabbit's sensomotor cortex, and the cat's parietal cortex. The principal functional attribute of the ensemble organization is the local synergy of responses displayed in the central ensemble structure by nerve cells surrounded by inhibited and unresponsive neurons.<
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