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Abstract:
There are many different ways to approach the study of brain
functions. The data that will be reported here have been acquired
by using a "naturalistic" approach. What does it mean? A
naturalistic approach, when applied to neurophysiology, consists in
choosing the most appropriate way of testing neurons activity, by
figuring out what would be the stimuli or the behavioral situation
that more closely approximate what the animal we are recording from
would experience in its natural environment. The "answers" we are
seeking from neuronal activity are strongly influenced by the way
in which we pose our "questions." Too many experimental data are
collected by routinely applying behavioral paradigms good for all
purposes. Another flaw commonly encountered in part of the
contemporary neurophysiological literature is the poor, if any,
attention paid to investigate where from is recorded what.
Altogether, these factors have induced among many scholars of this
discipline a growing sense of discomfort with the single neuron
recording approach.
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