Map of spiking activity underlying change detection in the mouse visual system

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Computational Neuroscience
• Systems Neuroscience

Background:

• Understanding complex visual behavior requires large-scale, dense neural recordings across multiple brain areas.
• Hierarchically organized brain circuits coordinate activity for visual processing.

Purpose of the Study:

• To create a comprehensive database of spiking activity across the mouse visual system (cortex, thalamus, midbrain).
• To map area-, cortical-layer-, and cell-type-specific coding of sensory and motor information during a visual task.

Main Methods:

• Utilized Neuropixels probes to record from over 75,000 neural units in 54 mice.
• Mice performed an image change detection task.
• Analyzed neural activity for modulation by task engagement and novel stimuli, employing population decoding and optogenetics.

Main Results:

• Task engagement modulation increased across the thalamocortical hierarchy, peaking in the midbrain.
• Novel images activated a broader cortical population and affected later cortical, but not thalamic, responses.
• Identified a critical time window for change detection, suggesting an adaptation-based strategy.

Conclusions:

• The developed database provides a valuable resource for studying sensorimotor computations.
• Neural processing of visual information involves hierarchical engagement and adaptation mechanisms.
• This work elucidates the neural basis of visual perception and decision-making.