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Functional links between sensory representations, choice activity, and sensorimotor associations in parietal cortex
Ting-Yu Chang1, Raymond Doudlah1, Byounghoon Kim1
1Department of Neuroscience, School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, United States.
Elife
|October 20, 2020
Summary
Neural representations of 3D environments guide goal-directed actions. This study reveals how robust 3D visual processing in parietal cortex links to decision-making and motor activity, highlighting experience-dependent sensorimotor associations.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Science
- Computational Neuroscience
Background:
- Three-dimensional (3D) environmental representations are crucial for goal-directed actions.
- The accuracy of these actions depends on experience-dependent 3D sensorimotor transformations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the link between the robustness of 3D visual representations, choice-related neural activity, and motor-related activity.
- To explore how these neural processes interact within the parietal cortex.
Main Methods:
- Electrophysiological recordings from the caudal intraparietal area in macaque monkeys.
- Monkeys performed a 3D orientation discrimination task and a visually guided saccade task.
Main Results:
- Neurons with stronger 3D visual representations showed more choice-related activity.
- 3D representation robustness increased after choice-related activity onset.
- Aligned 3D orientation and saccade direction preferences suggest experience-dependent sensorimotor associations.
Conclusions:
- Robust 3D visual representations are tightly linked to choice-related activity in parietal cortex.
- Experience shapes sensorimotor associations between visual object representations and motor commands.
Keywords:
3D visionchoice activityneurosciencenuisance variablesoculomotorparietal cortexrhesus macaquesensorimotorMore Related Videos
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