Global, Low-Amplitude Cortical State Predicts Response Outcomes in a Selective Detection Task in Mice

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Systems Neuroscience
• Cognitive Neuroscience

Background:

• Spontaneous neuronal activity significantly influences how the brain processes stimuli and generates behavioral responses.
• Understanding the state of the brain before a stimulus (prestimulus activity) is crucial for decoding neural processing and behavior.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the impact of neocortical prestimulus activity on the detection of sensory stimuli.
• To determine if prestimulus activity levels and patterns predict successful stimulus detection and reaction times.

Main Methods:

• Mice were trained on a selective whisker detection task.
• Widefield Ca2+ imaging was used to record neuronal activity across the cortex during task performance.
• Principal component analysis (PCA) was applied to analyze prestimulus activity patterns.

Main Results:

• Lower prestimulus neuronal activity correlated with enhanced stimulus detection and faster reaction times.
• Prestimulus activity predictive of trial outcome was broadly distributed across the dorsal neocortex.
• Response trials were associated with a distinct, less variable prestimulus neuronal subspace.
• Lower than chance prestimulus choice probability in single units correlated with stronger sensory and motor encoding.

Conclusions:

• An optimal prestimulus cortical state for stimulus detection is characterized by low amplitude and low variability of neuronal activity.
• This optimal state is globally present across the cortex and predicts behavioral outcomes for both target and distractor stimuli.