Figure 6.

MT cell response patterns are relatively robust with respect to sniff onset time but not sniff phase. A, Sniff-evoked responses (mean instantaneous spike frequency) for a cell that shows very little change in response dynamics with sniff frequency. Response amplitudes are normalized to their peak values; color coding is as in previous figures. B, C, Effect of sniff frequency on relative response latency (B) or duration (C) measured across all MT cells (N = 31), measured in linear time. Latencies and durations are plotted relative to the values obtained at 1 Hz sniffing. D, Same sniff-evoked responses for the cell in A but plotted with respect to phase in the sniff cycle; a cycle is defined as the time from one sniff to the next. Thus, for example, responses to 5 Hz sniffing (200 ms intersniff interval; blue plot), which have a latency of ∼100 ms, are stretched to begin half-way through the sniff cycle (at ∼π radians). When viewed in this manner, response patterns change significantly with frequency. E, F, Effect of sniff frequency on response latencies (E) and duration (F) analyzed with respect to sniff phase (bottom). Both latencies and durations are plotted as their fraction of the sniff cycle with respect to sniff phase. Error bars indicate mean ± SEM.