Perceptual choice boosts network stability: effect of neuromodulation?

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Computational Neuroscience

Background:

• Conscious perception and decision-making are complex cognitive functions.
• Recurrent cortical networks are implicated in information processing.
• Attractor states are theoretical models of neural activity patterns.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the neural dynamics underlying conscious perceptual decisions.
• To link cortical activity patterns to attractor states.
• To propose a mechanism for global cortical state changes during decisions.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of cortex-wide activity patterns.
• Modeling of recurrent cortical networks.
• Hypothesizing gain modulation by brainstem systems.

Main Results:

• Conscious perceptual decisions exhibit increased stability of cortex-wide activity patterns.
• This stability is a hallmark of attractor states in neural networks.
• A transient gain modulation by ascending brainstem systems is proposed as the cause.

Conclusions:

• Global cortical state changes, characterized by enhanced stability and attractor dynamics, are crucial for conscious perceptual decisions.
• Ascending brainstem systems likely play a key role in modulating cortical gain to facilitate these state changes.
• This provides a potential neural mechanism linking brainstem function to conscious decision-making.