Figure 4. Candidate Texture-Coding Mechanisms.

(A) In two different studies, progressively coarser textures evoked kinetic signatures with higher magnitude kinetic events. Red marks are slip-stick events from [12] measured for whiskers D1 and D2; blue marks are ENL from [10] measured for whisker C3. (B) Higher ENLs led to higher firing rates in the trigeminal ganglion (black diamonds) and barrel cortex (green squares). Adapted from [10]. (C) Texture-specific spike patterns. Peristimulus time histogram (2 ms bins; 100 trials) of a ganglion cell for two whisks on textures P280 (left) and P100 (right). Mean firing rate (dashed red lines) were similar, suggesting temporal firing pattern as a critical coding mechanism.