Cell-type-specific coupling of single-unit spikes to cortical ripples conserved across macaque and human V1

Abstract

Cortical ripples are brief high-frequency (80-150 Hz) oscillatory bursts in the extracellular potential, associated with memory and attention. So far, it is unclear whether they are brain-state specific and which neuron types participate in their generation. We report cortical ripples in macaque V1 at rest, present with both eyes open and closed. Using massively parallel Utah array recordings, we identify six single-unit classes and describe their relation to ripple-band oscillations. The classes differ in firing-rate modulation, phase-locking strength, and preferred ripple-band phase. One class of putative deep-layer neurons exhibits non-sinusoidal phase locking, explained by a simple thresholding mechanism in a computational model. During ripples, most units fire irregularly with transient regular bursts. The ripple-associated spiking organisation is largely preserved during natural-image viewing and confirmed in V1 of a blind human. Together, these findings suggest cortical ripples arise from a shared circuit conserved across species and conditions.