Neurons and Population Coding

The discovery of neurons in the visual cortex that respond to oriented bars of light, as opposed to the simple spots of light seen in retinal neurons, shifted the understanding of visual processing in neuroscience. This historic finding underscores how individual neurons work together to encode information in the brain, which contrasts with previous methods that focused on single neuron responses. Currently, advancements in technology allow for the simultaneous measurement of hundreds or thousands of neurons, thus enabling researchers to explore population coding more deeply. Understanding how groups of neurons collectively encode information could provide insights into neural mechanisms underpinning perception and cognition.