Multimodal Temporal Pattern Discrimination Is Encoded in Visual Cortical Dynamics

Discriminating between temporal features in sensory stimuli is critical to complex behavior and decision-making. However, how sensory cortical circuit mechanisms contribute to discrimination between subsecond temporal components in sensory events is unclear. To elucidate the mechanistic underpinnings of timing in primary visual cortex (V1), we recorded from V1 using two-photon calcium imaging in awake-behaving mice performing a go/no-go discrimination timing task, which was composed of patterns of subsecond audiovisual stimuli. In both conditions, activity during the early stimulus period was temporally coordinated with the preferred stimulus. However, while network activity increased in the preferred condition, network activity was increasingly suppressed in the nonpreferred condition over the stimulus period. Multiple levels of analyses suggest that discrimination between subsecond intervals that are contained in rhythmic patterns can be accomplished by local neural dynamics in V1.