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Coexistence of state, choice, and sensory integration coding in barrel cortex LII/III
Pierre-Marie Gardères1,2, Sébastien Le Gal3, Charly Rousseau3
1Institut Pasteur, Université Paris Cité, Unit of Neural Circuits Dynamics and Decision Making, F-75015, Paris, France. pmgarderes@gmail.com.
Nature Communications
|June 5, 2024
Summary
Primary sensory cortex reliably represents stimuli for perception. Choice signals and stimulus representations vary independently, suggesting downstream areas handle decision-making variability.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Sensory Perception
- Decision Making
Background:
- Choice-related neural activity extends to primary sensory areas.
- The alignment of choice signals with early sensory representations is unclear.
- Understanding this alignment is crucial for interpreting feedforward perception mechanisms.
Purpose of the Study:
- Investigate the role of primary somatosensory cortex (wS1) in perceptual decision-making.
- Determine how early sensory representations align with choice signals.
- Explore the neural coding of stimuli, choice, and task engagement in wS1.
Main Methods:
- Two-alternative forced choice (2AFC) task using vibrissae stimulation in mice.
- Optogenetic silencing of specific cortical columns in wS1.
- In vivo functional imaging of layer II/III neurons.
Main Results:
- Optogenetic silencing shifted psychometric functions, confirming perception relies on focal wS1 representations.
- Neurons showed mixed coding for stimuli, choice, and task engagement.
- Multi-whisker suppression enhanced sensory discrimination and task engagement-related activity.
- Stimulus and choice representations varied orthogonally across trials.
Conclusions:
- Primary sensory cortex provides a stable sensory substrate for perception.
- Perceptual variability likely originates from downstream processing areas, not wS1.
- wS1 activity supports flexible downstream decision-making processes.
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