ABSTRACT
For several reasons, neuronal rhythms have long been thought to play an important role in temporal coordination. Since the discovery of the Electroencephalogram (EEG) it has been known that a number of structures in the mammalian brain engage in rhythmic activities. These patterned neuronal oscillations take many forms. This chapter reviews recent advances in four areas of mammalian systems neurophysiology where synchronous rhythmic activity has been observed and investigated. The four areas include the olfactory bulb, the visual cortex, the hippocampus, and the somatomotor cortex. The chapter discusses the macroscopic behaviour of the system and its relation to behaviour with the cellular mechanisms thought to control the rhythmic activity and its synchronization. The temporal correlation model makes a number of specific predictions regarding the spatial extent and stimulus dependence of synchronous activity. The temporal correlation model has received renewed interest with the recent discovery of synchronous oscillatory activity in the visual cortex.
