PERSPECTIVE article
Front. Neurosci.
Sec. Perception Science
Volume 19 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fnins.2025.1588437
This article is part of the Research TopicAdvancements in Neural Coding: Sensory Perception and Multiplexed Encoding StrategiesView all articles
Polysemia as a Concept to Understand the Encoding of Sensory Information
Provisionally accepted
- Laval University, Quebec, Canada
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In this article, we explore the concept of polysemia in sensory information processing within the brain. We suggest that, just as words can have different meanings based on context, sensory inputs are interpreted differently depending on the animal's current state and behavior. Focusing on the trigeminal sensory nuclei in rats, we highlight the role of inhibitory circuits in gating sensory information and propose that sensory signals are polysemic, with their meaning influenced by emotional, hormonal, and motivational factors.
Keywords: Polysemia, sensory processing, Trigeminal system, Inhibitory Control, Context-Dependent Perception, vibrissal pathway
Received: 05 Mar 2025; Accepted: 01 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Ethier, Vaziri and Deschênes. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Christian Ethier, Laval University, Quebec, Canada
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