Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32054847›Full record

ArticleNature communications2020

Natural images are reliably represented by sparse and variable populations of neurons in visual cortex.

Takashi Yoshida, Kenichi Ohki

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Nature communications, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 47 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
47citing papers in PubMed
9.1field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

47 citing papers in PubMed, 129 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Article
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  4. Ultrasound Modulation of Visual Circuits in Mice Independent of Auditory Confound.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026
    Article
  5. Learnable Diffusion Framework for Mouse V1 Neural Decoding.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026
    Article
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  11. Review
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  17. Review
  18. The cortical critical power law balances energy and information in an optimal fashion.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025
    Article
  19. Article
  20. Tensor-powered insights into neural dynamics.Communications biology · 2025
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Takashi YoshidaDepartment of Physiology, The University of Tokyo School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan. takashiy@m.u-tokyo.ac.jp.
Kenichi OhkiDepartment of Physiology, The University of Tokyo School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan. kohki@m.u-tokyo.ac.jp.
The University of Tokyo · JP

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Natural scenes sparsely activate neurons in the primary visual cortex (V1). However, how sparsely active neurons reliably represent complex natural images and how the information is optimally decoded from these representations have not been revealed. Using two-photon calcium imaging, we recorded visual responses to natural images from several hundred V1 neurons and reconstructed the images from neural activity in anesthetized and awake mice. A single natural image is linearly decodable from a surprisingly small number of highly responsive neurons, and the remaining neurons even degrade the decoding. Furthermore, these neurons reliably represent the image across trials, regardless of trial-to-trial response variability. Based on our results, diverse, partially overlapping receptive fields ensure sparse and reliable representation. We suggest that information is reliably represented while the corresponding neuronal patterns change across trials and collecting only the activity of highly responsive neurons is an optimal decoding strategy for the downstream neurons.

Indexed as

AnimalsFemaleImage Processing, Computer-AssistedMaleMiceMice, Inbred C57BLMice, TransgenicMicroscopy, Fluorescence, MultiphotonPattern Recognition, VisualPhotic StimulationSensory Receptor CellsVisual CortexVisual Perception

Identifiers

PMID32054847
PMCPMC7018721
OpenAlexW3005658451

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.