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A cortico-collicular pathway for motor planning in a memory-dependent perceptual decision task
Chunyu A Duan1, Yuxin Pan2,3, Guofen Ma4
1Institute of Neuroscience, State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China. cduan@ion.ac.cn.
Nature Communications
|May 12, 2021
Summary
Animals use motor planning to act on past evidence. This study reveals how the secondary motor cortex (M2) pathway to the superior colliculus (SC) enables this crucial brain function for decision-making.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Systems Neuroscience
- Behavioral Neuroscience
Background:
- Motor planning is essential for survival, enabling animals to act on past sensory evidence.
- The specific neural circuits governing motor planning, particularly the premotor cortex and superior colliculus pathway, remain largely unknown.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the direct pathway connecting the secondary motor cortex (M2) and the superior colliculus (SC) in the context of motor planning.
- To elucidate the role of this M2-SC pathway in a memory-dependent perceptual decision task.
Main Methods:
- Utilized projection-specific imaging and perturbation techniques in mice.
- Recorded neural activity in M2 neurons projecting to the SC during a perceptual decision task.
- Inhibited M2 terminals in the SC to assess the impact on decision maintenance.
Main Results:
- SC-projecting M2 neurons dynamically encode choice information during motor planning and execution.
- Inhibiting M2 terminals in the SC selectively impaired the maintenance of decisions.
- Both excitatory and inhibitory SC neurons receive M2 inputs, with distinct temporal choice-coding patterns.
Conclusions:
- The premotor-collicular pathway is dynamically recruited as a circuit mechanism for motor planning.
- This pathway plays a critical role in maintaining decisions based on past sensory evidence.
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