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Yang Z, Inagaki M, Gerfen C, Fontolan L, Inagaki HK. The frontal cortex adjusts striatal integrator dynamics for flexible motor timing. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.06.29.601348. [PMID: 39005437 PMCID: PMC11244898 DOI: 10.1101/2024.06.29.601348] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/16/2024]
Abstract
Flexible control of motor timing is crucial for behavior. Before movement begins, the frontal cortex and striatum exhibit ramping spiking activity, with variable ramp slopes anticipating movement onsets. This activity may function as an adjustable 'timer,' triggering actions at the desired timing. However, because the frontal cortex and striatum share similar ramping dynamics and are both necessary for timing behaviors, distinguishing their individual roles in this timer function remains challenging. To address this, we conducted perturbation experiments combined with multi-regional electrophysiology in mice performing a lick-timing task. Following transient silencing of the frontal cortex, cortical and striatal activity swiftly returned to pre-silencing levels and resumed ramping, leading to a shift in lick timing close to the silencing duration. Conversely, briefly inhibiting the striatum caused a gradual decrease in ramping activity in both regions, with ramping resuming from post-inhibition levels, shifting lick timing beyond the inhibition duration. Thus, inhibiting the frontal cortex and striatum effectively paused and rewound the timer, respectively. Additionally, the frontal cortex, but not the striatum, encodes trial-history information guiding lick timing. These findings suggest specialized functional allocations within the forebrain: the striatum temporally integrates input from the frontal cortex to generate ramping activity that regulates motor timing.
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Marrero K, Aruljothi K, Delgadillo C, Kabbara S, Swatch L, Zagha E. Goal-Directed Learning is Multidimensional and Accompanied by Diverse and Widespread Changes in Neocortical Signaling. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2023.02.13.528412. [PMID: 36824924 PMCID: PMC9948952 DOI: 10.1101/2023.02.13.528412] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/17/2023]
Abstract
New tasks are often learned in stages with each stage reflecting a different learning challenge. Accordingly, each learning stage is likely mediated by distinct neuronal processes. And yet, most rodent studies of the neuronal correlates of goal-directed learning focus on individual outcome measures and individual brain regions. Here, we longitudinally studied mice from naïve to expert performance in a head-fixed, operant conditioning whisker discrimination task. In addition to tracking the primary behavioral outcome of stimulus discrimination, we tracked and compared an array of object-based and temporal-based behavioral measures. These behavioral analyses identify multiple, partially overlapping learning stages in this task, consistent with initial response implementation, early stimulus-response generalization, and late response inhibition. To begin to understand the neuronal foundations of these learning processes, we performed widefield Ca2+ imaging of dorsal neocortex throughout learning and correlated behavioral measures with neuronal activity. We found distinct and widespread correlations between neocortical activation patterns and various behavioral measures. For example, improvements in sensory discrimination correlated with target stimulus evoked activations of licking-related cortices along with distractor stimulus evoked global cortical suppression. Our study reveals multidimensional learning for a simple goal-directed learning task and generates hypotheses for the neuronal modulations underlying these various learning processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Krista Marrero
- Neuroscience Graduate Program, University of California, Riverside 900 University Avenue, Riverside CA 92521 USA
| | - Krithiga Aruljothi
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Riverside 900 University Avenue, Riverside CA 92521 USA
| | - Christian Delgadillo
- Division of Biomedical Sciences, University of California, Riverside 900 University Avenue, Riverside CA 92521 USA
| | - Sarah Kabbara
- Neuroscience Graduate Program, University of California, Riverside 900 University Avenue, Riverside CA 92521 USA
| | - Lovleen Swatch
- College of Natural & Agricultural Sciences, University of California, Riverside 900 University Avenue, Riverside CA 92521 USA
| | - Edward Zagha
- Neuroscience Graduate Program, University of California, Riverside 900 University Avenue, Riverside CA 92521 USA
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Riverside 900 University Avenue, Riverside CA 92521 USA
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3
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Shintaki R, Tanaka D, Suzuki S, Yoshimoto T, Sadato N, Chikazoe J, Jimura K. Continuous decision to wait for a future reward is guided by fronto-hippocampal anticipatory dynamics. Cereb Cortex 2024; 34:bhae217. [PMID: 38798003 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhae217] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/17/2023] [Revised: 05/02/2024] [Accepted: 05/08/2024] [Indexed: 05/29/2024] Open
Abstract
Deciding whether to wait for a future reward is crucial for surviving in an uncertain world. While seeking rewards, agents anticipate a reward in the present environment and constantly face a trade-off between staying in their environment or leaving it. It remains unclear, however, how humans make continuous decisions in such situations. Here, we show that anticipatory activity in the anterior prefrontal cortex, ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, and hippocampus underpins continuous stay-leave decision-making. Participants awaited real liquid rewards available after tens of seconds, and their continuous decision was tracked by dynamic brain activity associated with the anticipation of a reward. Participants stopped waiting more frequently and sooner after they experienced longer delays and received smaller rewards. When the dynamic anticipatory brain activity was enhanced in the anterior prefrontal cortex, participants remained in their current environment, but when this activity diminished, they left the environment. Moreover, while experiencing a delayed reward in a novel environment, the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex and hippocampus showed anticipatory activity. Finally, the activity in the anterior prefrontal cortex and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex was enhanced in participants adopting a leave strategy, whereas those remaining stationary showed enhanced hippocampal activity. Our results suggest that fronto-hippocampal anticipatory dynamics underlie continuous decision-making while anticipating a future reward.
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Affiliation(s)
- Reiko Shintaki
- Department of Biosciences and Informatics, Keio University, 3-14-1 Hiyoshi, Kohoku-ku, Yokohama, 223-8522, Japan
| | - Daiki Tanaka
- Department of Biosciences and Informatics, Keio University, 3-14-1 Hiyoshi, Kohoku-ku, Yokohama, 223-8522, Japan
| | - Shinsuke Suzuki
- Centre for Brain, Mind and Markets, The University of Melbourne, Grattan Street, Parkville, Victoria, 3010, Australia
- Faculty of Social Data Science and HIAS Brain Research Center, Hitotsubashi University, 2-1 Naka, Kunitachi, 186-8601, Japan
| | - Takaaki Yoshimoto
- Research Organization of Science and Technology, Ritsumeikan University, 1-1-1, Nojihigashi, Kusatsu, 525-8577, Japan
- Section of Brain Function Information, Supportive Center for Brain Research, National Institute for Physiological Sciences, 38 Nishigonaka, Myodaiji, Okazaki, 444-8585, Japan
| | - Norihiro Sadato
- Research Organization of Science and Technology, Ritsumeikan University, 1-1-1, Nojihigashi, Kusatsu, 525-8577, Japan
- Section of Brain Function Information, Supportive Center for Brain Research, National Institute for Physiological Sciences, 38 Nishigonaka, Myodaiji, Okazaki, 444-8585, Japan
| | - Junichi Chikazoe
- Section of Brain Function Information, Supportive Center for Brain Research, National Institute for Physiological Sciences, 38 Nishigonaka, Myodaiji, Okazaki, 444-8585, Japan
- Araya, Inc., 1-11 Kanda Sakuma-cho, Chiyoda, Tokyo, 101-0025, Japan
| | - Koji Jimura
- Department of Informatics, Gunma University, 4-2 Aramaki-machi, Maebashi, 371-8510, Japan
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Catto A, O’Connor R, Braunscheidel KM, Kenny PJ, Shen L. FABEL: Forecasting Animal Behavioral Events with Deep Learning-Based Computer Vision. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.03.15.584610. [PMID: 38559273 PMCID: PMC10980057 DOI: 10.1101/2024.03.15.584610] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/04/2024]
Abstract
Behavioral neuroscience aims to provide a connection between neural phenomena and emergent organism-level behaviors. This requires perturbing the nervous system and observing behavioral outcomes, and comparing observed post-perturbation behavior with predicted counterfactual behavior and therefore accurate behavioral forecasts. In this study we present FABEL, a deep learning method for forecasting future animal behaviors and locomotion trajectories from historical locomotion alone. We train an offline pose estimation network to predict animal body-part locations in behavioral video; then sequences of pose vectors are input to deep learning time-series forecasting models. Specifically, we train an LSTM network that predicts a future food interaction event in a specified time window, and a Temporal Fusion Transformer that predicts future trajectories of animal body-parts, which are then converted into probabilistic label forecasts. Importantly, accurate prediction of food interaction provides a basis for neurobehavioral intervention in the context of compulsive eating. We show promising results on forecasting tasks between 100 milliseconds and 5 seconds timescales. Because the model takes only behavioral video as input, it can be adapted to any behavioral task and does not require specific physiological readouts. Simultaneously, these deep learning models may serve as extensible modules that can accommodate diverse signals, such as in-vivo fluorescence imaging and electrophysiology, which may improve behavior forecasts and elucidate invervention targets for desired behavioral change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adam Catto
- Nash Family Department of Neuroscience and Friedman Brain Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, United States
| | - Richard O’Connor
- Nash Family Department of Neuroscience and Friedman Brain Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, United States
| | - Kevin M. Braunscheidel
- Nash Family Department of Neuroscience and Friedman Brain Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, United States
| | - Paul J. Kenny
- Nash Family Department of Neuroscience and Friedman Brain Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, United States
| | - Li Shen
- Nash Family Department of Neuroscience and Friedman Brain Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, United States
- Windreich Department of Artificial Intelligence and Human Health, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, United States
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5
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Gutierrez-Castellanos N, Sarra D, Godinho BS, Mainen ZF. Maturation of cortical input to dorsal raphe nucleus increases behavioral persistence in mice. eLife 2024; 13:e93485. [PMID: 38477558 PMCID: PMC10994666 DOI: 10.7554/elife.93485] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/12/2023] [Accepted: 02/28/2024] [Indexed: 03/14/2024] Open
Abstract
The ability to persist toward a desired objective is a fundamental aspect of behavioral control whose impairment is implicated in several behavioral disorders. One of the prominent features of behavioral persistence is that its maturation occurs relatively late in development. This is presumed to echo the developmental time course of a corresponding circuit within late-maturing parts of the brain, such as the prefrontal cortex, but the specific identity of the responsible circuits is unknown. Here, we used a genetic approach to describe the maturation of the projection from layer 5 neurons of the neocortex to the dorsal raphe nucleus in mice. Using optogenetic-assisted circuit mapping, we show that this projection undergoes a dramatic increase in synaptic potency between postnatal weeks 3 and 8, corresponding to the transition from juvenile to adult. We then show that this period corresponds to an increase in the behavioral persistence that mice exhibit in a foraging task. Finally, we used a genetic targeting strategy that primarily affected neurons in the medial prefrontal cortex, to selectively ablate this pathway in adulthood and show that mice revert to a behavioral phenotype similar to juveniles. These results suggest that frontal cortical to dorsal raphe input is a critical anatomical and functional substrate of the development and manifestation of behavioral persistence.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Dario Sarra
- Champalimaud Research, Champalimaud FoundationLisbonPortugal
- Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of OxfordOxfordUnited Kingdom
| | - Beatriz S Godinho
- Champalimaud Research, Champalimaud FoundationLisbonPortugal
- Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of OxfordOxfordUnited Kingdom
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6
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Gupta D, DePasquale B, Kopec CD, Brody CD. Trial-history biases in evidence accumulation can give rise to apparent lapses in decision-making. Nat Commun 2024; 15:662. [PMID: 38253526 PMCID: PMC10803295 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-44880-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/22/2023] [Accepted: 01/04/2024] [Indexed: 01/24/2024] Open
Abstract
Trial history biases and lapses are two of the most common suboptimalities observed during perceptual decision-making. These suboptimalities are routinely assumed to arise from distinct processes. However, previous work has suggested that they covary in their prevalence and that their proposed neural substrates overlap. Here we demonstrate that during decision-making, history biases and apparent lapses can both arise from a common cognitive process that is optimal under mistaken beliefs that the world is changing i.e. nonstationary. This corresponds to an accumulation-to-bound model with history-dependent updates to the initial state of the accumulator. We test our model's predictions about the relative prevalence of history biases and lapses, and show that they are robustly borne out in two distinct decision-making datasets of male rats, including data from a novel reaction time task. Our model improves the ability to precisely predict decision-making dynamics within and across trials, by positing a process through which agents can generate quasi-stochastic choices.
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Affiliation(s)
- Diksha Gupta
- Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA.
- Sainsbury Wellcome Centre, University College London, London, UK.
| | - Brian DePasquale
- Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Charles D Kopec
- Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA
| | - Carlos D Brody
- Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA.
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA.
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7
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Syrov N, Yakovlev L, Kaplan A, Lebedev M. Motor cortex activation during visuomotor transformations: evoked potentials during overt and imagined movements. Cereb Cortex 2024; 34:bhad440. [PMID: 37991276 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhad440] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/09/2023] [Revised: 10/24/2023] [Accepted: 10/25/2023] [Indexed: 11/23/2023] Open
Abstract
Despite the prevalence of visuomotor transformations in our motor skills, their mechanisms remain incompletely understood, especially when imagery actions are considered such as mentally picking up a cup or pressing a button. Here, we used a stimulus-response task to directly compare the visuomotor transformation underlying overt and imagined button presses. Electroencephalographic activity was recorded while participants responded to highlights of the target button while ignoring the second, non-target button. Movement-related potentials (MRPs) and event-related desynchronization occurred for both overt movements and motor imagery (MI), with responses present even for non-target stimuli. Consistent with the activity accumulation model where visual stimuli are evaluated and transformed into the eventual motor response, the timing of MRPs matched the response time on individual trials. Activity-accumulation patterns were observed for MI, as well. Yet, unlike overt movements, MI-related MRPs were not lateralized, which appears to be a neural marker for the distinction between generating a mental image and transforming it into an overt action. Top-down response strategies governing this hemispheric specificity should be accounted for in future research on MI, including basic studies and medical practice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nikolay Syrov
- Vladimir Zelman Center for Neurobiology and Brain Rehabilitation, Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, Bolshoy Boulevard 30, bld. 1. Moscow, 121205, Russia
| | - Lev Yakovlev
- Vladimir Zelman Center for Neurobiology and Brain Rehabilitation, Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, Bolshoy Boulevard 30, bld. 1. Moscow, 121205, Russia
| | - Alexander Kaplan
- Vladimir Zelman Center for Neurobiology and Brain Rehabilitation, Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, Bolshoy Boulevard 30, bld. 1. Moscow, 121205, Russia
- Faculty of Biology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, 1-12 Leninskie Gory, Moscow, 119991, Russia
| | - Mikhail Lebedev
- Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics, Lomonosov Moscow State University, 1 Leninskiye Gory, Moscow, 119991, Russia
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8
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Balcı F, Simen P. Neurocomputational Models of Interval Timing: Seeing the Forest for the Trees. ADVANCES IN EXPERIMENTAL MEDICINE AND BIOLOGY 2024; 1455:51-78. [PMID: 38918346 DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-60183-5_4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/27/2024]
Abstract
Extracting temporal regularities and relations from experience/observation is critical for organisms' adaptiveness (communication, foraging, predation, prediction) in their ecological niches. Therefore, it is not surprising that the internal clock that enables the perception of seconds-to-minutes-long intervals (interval timing) is evolutionarily well-preserved across many species of animals. This comparative claim is primarily supported by the fact that the timing behavior of many vertebrates exhibits common statistical signatures (e.g., on-average accuracy, scalar variability, positive skew). These ubiquitous statistical features of timing behaviors serve as empirical benchmarks for modelers in their efforts to unravel the processing dynamics of the internal clock (namely answering how internal clock "ticks"). In this chapter, we introduce prominent (neuro)computational approaches to modeling interval timing at a level that can be understood by general audience. These models include Treisman's pacemaker accumulator model, the information processing variant of scalar expectancy theory, the striatal beat frequency model, behavioral expectancy theory, the learning to time model, the time-adaptive opponent Poisson drift-diffusion model, time cell models, and neural trajectory models. Crucially, we discuss these models within an overarching conceptual framework that categorizes different models as threshold vs. clock-adaptive models and as dedicated clock/ramping vs. emergent time/population code models.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fuat Balcı
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada.
| | - Patrick Simen
- Department of Neuroscience, Oberlin College, Oberlin, OH, USA
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9
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Bufacchi RJ, Battaglia-Mayer A, Iannetti GD, Caminiti R. Cortico-spinal modularity in the parieto-frontal system: A new perspective on action control. Prog Neurobiol 2023; 231:102537. [PMID: 37832714 DOI: 10.1016/j.pneurobio.2023.102537] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/02/2023] [Revised: 08/22/2023] [Accepted: 10/04/2023] [Indexed: 10/15/2023]
Abstract
Classical neurophysiology suggests that the motor cortex (MI) has a unique role in action control. In contrast, this review presents evidence for multiple parieto-frontal spinal command modules that can bypass MI. Five observations support this modular perspective: (i) the statistics of cortical connectivity demonstrate functionally-related clusters of cortical areas, defining functional modules in the premotor, cingulate, and parietal cortices; (ii) different corticospinal pathways originate from the above areas, each with a distinct range of conduction velocities; (iii) the activation time of each module varies depending on task, and different modules can be activated simultaneously; (iv) a modular architecture with direct motor output is faster and less metabolically expensive than an architecture that relies on MI, given the slow connections between MI and other cortical areas; (v) lesions of the areas composing parieto-frontal modules have different effects from lesions of MI. Here we provide examples of six cortico-spinal modules and functions they subserve: module 1) arm reaching, tool use and object construction; module 2) spatial navigation and locomotion; module 3) grasping and observation of hand and mouth actions; module 4) action initiation, motor sequences, time encoding; module 5) conditional motor association and learning, action plan switching and action inhibition; module 6) planning defensive actions. These modules can serve as a library of tools to be recombined when faced with novel tasks, and MI might serve as a recombinatory hub. In conclusion, the availability of locally-stored information and multiple outflow paths supports the physiological plausibility of the proposed modular perspective.
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Affiliation(s)
- R J Bufacchi
- Neuroscience and Behaviour Laboratory, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Rome, Italy; International Center for Primate Brain Research (ICPBR), Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology (CEBSIT), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Shanghai, China
| | - A Battaglia-Mayer
- Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, University of Rome, Sapienza, Italy
| | - G D Iannetti
- Neuroscience and Behaviour Laboratory, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Rome, Italy; Department of Neuroscience, Physiology and Pharmacology, University College London (UCL), London, UK
| | - R Caminiti
- Neuroscience and Behaviour Laboratory, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Rome, Italy.
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10
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Chong HR, Ranjbar-Slamloo Y, Ho MZH, Ouyang X, Kamigaki T. Functional alterations of the prefrontal circuit underlying cognitive aging in mice. Nat Commun 2023; 14:7254. [PMID: 37945561 PMCID: PMC10636129 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-43142-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/18/2023] [Accepted: 11/01/2023] [Indexed: 11/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Executive function is susceptible to aging. How aging impacts the circuit-level computations underlying executive function remains unclear. Using calcium imaging and optogenetic manipulation during memory-guided behavior, we show that working-memory coding and the relevant recurrent connectivity in the mouse medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) are altered as early as middle age. Population activity in the young adult mPFC exhibits dissociable yet overlapping patterns between tactile and auditory modalities, enabling crossmodal memory coding concurrent with modality-dependent coding. In middle age, however, crossmodal coding remarkably diminishes while modality-dependent coding persists, and both types of coding decay in advanced age. Resting-state functional connectivity, especially among memory-coding neurons, decreases already in middle age, suggesting deteriorated recurrent circuits for memory maintenance. Optogenetic inactivation reveals that the middle-aged mPFC exhibits heightened vulnerability to perturbations. These findings elucidate functional alterations of the prefrontal circuit that unfold in middle age and deteriorate further as a hallmark of cognitive aging.
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Affiliation(s)
- Huee Ru Chong
- Neuroscience & Mental Health, Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, 308232, Singapore
| | - Yadollah Ranjbar-Slamloo
- Neuroscience & Mental Health, Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, 308232, Singapore
| | - Malcolm Zheng Hao Ho
- Neuroscience & Mental Health, Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, 308232, Singapore
- IGP-Neuroscience, Interdisciplinary Graduate Programme, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, 308232, Singapore
| | - Xuan Ouyang
- Neuroscience & Mental Health, Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, 308232, Singapore
| | - Tsukasa Kamigaki
- Neuroscience & Mental Health, Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, 308232, Singapore.
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11
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Bukwich M, Campbell MG, Zoltowski D, Kingsbury L, Tomov MS, Stern J, Kim HR, Drugowitsch J, Linderman SW, Uchida N. Competitive integration of time and reward explains value-sensitive foraging decisions and frontal cortex ramping dynamics. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.09.05.556267. [PMID: 37732217 PMCID: PMC10508756 DOI: 10.1101/2023.09.05.556267] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/22/2023]
Abstract
The ability to make advantageous decisions is critical for animals to ensure their survival. Patch foraging is a natural decision-making process in which animals decide when to leave a patch of depleting resources to search for a new one. To study the algorithmic and neural basis of patch foraging behavior in a controlled laboratory setting, we developed a virtual foraging task for head-fixed mice. Mouse behavior could be explained by ramp-to-threshold models integrating time and rewards antagonistically. Accurate behavioral modeling required inclusion of a slowly varying "patience" variable, which modulated sensitivity to time. To investigate the neural basis of this decision-making process, we performed dense electrophysiological recordings with Neuropixels probes broadly throughout frontal cortex and underlying subcortical areas. We found that decision variables from the reward integrator model were represented in neural activity, most robustly in frontal cortical areas. Regression modeling followed by unsupervised clustering identified a subset of neurons with ramping activity. These neurons' firing rates ramped up gradually in single trials over long time scales (up to tens of seconds), were inhibited by rewards, and were better described as being generated by a continuous ramp rather than a discrete stepping process. Together, these results identify reward integration via a continuous ramping process in frontal cortex as a likely candidate for the mechanism by which the mammalian brain solves patch foraging problems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael Bukwich
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02138
- Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02138
- Current address: Sainsbury Wellcome Centre, University College London, London, W1T 4JG, UK
| | - Malcolm G Campbell
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02138
- Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02138
| | - David Zoltowski
- Department of Statistics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 94305
- Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305
| | - Lyle Kingsbury
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02138
- Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02138
| | - Momchil S Tomov
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02138
- Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02138
- Current address: Motional AD LLC, Boston, MA 02210
| | - Joshua Stern
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02138
- Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02138
| | - HyungGoo R Kim
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02138
- Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02138
- Center for Neuroscience Imaging Research, Institute for Basic Science, Suwon 16419, Republic of Korea
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon 16419, Republic of Korea
| | - Jan Drugowitsch
- Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115
| | - Scott W Linderman
- Department of Statistics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 94305
- Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305
| | - Naoshige Uchida
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02138
- Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02138
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12
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Schreiner DC, Wright A, Baltz ET, Wang T, Cazares C, Gremel CM. Chronic alcohol exposure alters action control via hyperactive premotor corticostriatal activity. Cell Rep 2023; 42:112675. [PMID: 37342908 PMCID: PMC10468874 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2023.112675] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2022] [Revised: 05/02/2023] [Accepted: 06/06/2023] [Indexed: 06/23/2023] Open
Abstract
Alcohol use disorder (AUD) alters decision-making control over actions, but disruptions to the responsible neural circuit mechanisms are unclear. Premotor corticostriatal circuits are implicated in balancing goal-directed and habitual control over actions and show disruption in disorders with compulsive, inflexible behaviors, including AUD. However, whether there is a causal link between disrupted premotor activity and altered action control is unknown. Here, we find that mice chronically exposed to alcohol (chronic intermittent ethanol [CIE]) showed impaired ability to use recent action information to guide subsequent actions. Prior CIE exposure resulted in aberrant increases in the calcium activity of premotor cortex (M2) neurons that project to the dorsal medial striatum (M2-DMS) during action control. Chemogenetic reduction of this CIE-induced hyperactivity in M2-DMS neurons rescued goal-directed action control. This suggests a direct, causal relationship between chronic alcohol disruption to premotor circuits and decision-making strategy and provides mechanistic support for targeting activity of human premotor regions as a potential treatment in AUD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Drew C Schreiner
- Department of Psychology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
| | - Andrew Wright
- Department of Psychology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
| | - Emily T Baltz
- The Neurosciences Graduate Program, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
| | - Tianyu Wang
- Department of Psychology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
| | - Christian Cazares
- The Neurosciences Graduate Program, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
| | - Christina M Gremel
- Department of Psychology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA; The Neurosciences Graduate Program, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.
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13
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Xie T, Huang C, Zhang Y, Liu J, Yao H. Influence of Recent Trial History on Interval Timing. Neurosci Bull 2023; 39:559-575. [PMID: 36209314 PMCID: PMC10073370 DOI: 10.1007/s12264-022-00954-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/01/2022] [Accepted: 07/10/2022] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Interval timing is involved in a variety of cognitive behaviors such as associative learning and decision-making. While it has been shown that time estimation is adaptive to the temporal context, it remains unclear how interval timing behavior is influenced by recent trial history. Here we found that, in mice trained to perform a licking-based interval timing task, a decrease of inter-reinforcement interval in the previous trial rapidly shifted the time of anticipatory licking earlier. Optogenetic inactivation of the anterior lateral motor cortex (ALM), but not the medial prefrontal cortex, for a short time before reward delivery caused a decrease in the peak time of anticipatory licking in the next trial. Electrophysiological recordings from the ALM showed that the response profiles preceded by short and long inter-reinforcement intervals exhibited task-engagement-dependent temporal scaling. Thus, interval timing is adaptive to recent experience of the temporal interval, and ALM activity during time estimation reflects recent experience of interval.
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Affiliation(s)
- Taorong Xie
- Institute of Neuroscience, State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 200031, China
| | - Can Huang
- Institute of Neuroscience, State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 200031, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China
| | - Yijie Zhang
- Institute of Neuroscience, State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 200031, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China
| | - Jing Liu
- Institute of Neuroscience, State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 200031, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China
| | - Haishan Yao
- Institute of Neuroscience, State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 200031, China.
- Shanghai Center for Brain Science and Brain-Inspired Intelligence Technology, Shanghai, 201210, China.
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14
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Zareian B, Lam A, Zagha E. Dorsolateral Striatum is a Bottleneck for Responding to Task-Relevant Stimuli in a Learned Whisker Detection Task in Mice. J Neurosci 2023; 43:2126-2139. [PMID: 36810226 PMCID: PMC10039746 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.1506-22.2023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/05/2022] [Revised: 02/01/2023] [Accepted: 02/03/2023] [Indexed: 02/23/2023] Open
Abstract
A learned sensory-motor behavior engages multiple brain regions, including the neocortex and the basal ganglia. How a target stimulus is detected by these regions and converted to a motor response remains poorly understood. Here, we performed electrophysiological recordings and pharmacological inactivations of whisker motor cortex and dorsolateral striatum to determine the representations within, and functions of, each region during performance in a selective whisker detection task in male and female mice. From the recording experiments, we observed robust, lateralized sensory responses in both structures. We also observed bilateral choice probability and preresponse activity in both structures, with these features emerging earlier in whisker motor cortex than dorsolateral striatum. These findings establish both whisker motor cortex and dorsolateral striatum as potential contributors to the sensory-to-motor (sensorimotor) transformation. We performed pharmacological inactivation studies to determine the necessity of these brain regions for this task. We found that suppressing the dorsolateral striatum severely disrupts responding to task-relevant stimuli, without disrupting the ability to respond, whereas suppressing whisker motor cortex resulted in more subtle changes in sensory detection and response criterion. Together these data support the dorsolateral striatum as an essential node in the sensorimotor transformation of this whisker detection task.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Selecting an item in a grocery store, hailing a cab - these daily practices require us to transform sensory stimuli into motor responses. Many decades of previous research have studied goal-directed sensory-to-motor transformations within various brain structures, including the neocortex and the basal ganglia. Yet, our understanding of how these regions coordinate to perform sensory-to-motor transformations is limited because these brain structures are often studied by different researchers and through different behavioral tasks. Here, we record and perturb specific regions of the neocortex and the basal ganglia and compare their contributions during performance of a goal-directed somatosensory detection task. We find notable differences in the activities and functions of these regions, which suggests specific contributions to the sensory-to-motor transformation process.
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Affiliation(s)
- Behzad Zareian
- Department of Psychology, University of California Riverside, Riverside, California 92521
| | - Angelina Lam
- Division of Biomedical Sciences, School of Medicine, University of California Riverside, Riverside, California 92521
| | - Edward Zagha
- Department of Psychology, University of California Riverside, Riverside, California 92521
- Division of Biomedical Sciences, School of Medicine, University of California Riverside, Riverside, California 92521
- Neuroscience Graduate Program, University of California Riverside, Riverside, California 92521
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15
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De Corte BJ, Akdoğan B, Balsam PD. Temporal scaling and computing time in neural circuits: Should we stop watching the clock and look for its gears? Front Behav Neurosci 2022; 16:1022713. [PMID: 36570701 PMCID: PMC9773401 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2022.1022713] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/18/2022] [Accepted: 10/31/2022] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Timing underlies a variety of functions, from walking to perceiving causality. Neural timing models typically fall into one of two categories-"ramping" and "population-clock" theories. According to ramping models, individual neurons track time by gradually increasing or decreasing their activity as an event approaches. To time different intervals, ramping neurons adjust their slopes, ramping steeply for short intervals and vice versa. In contrast, according to "population-clock" models, multiple neurons track time as a group, and each neuron can fire nonlinearly. As each neuron changes its rate at each point in time, a distinct pattern of activity emerges across the population. To time different intervals, the brain learns the population patterns that coincide with key events. Both model categories have empirical support. However, they often differ in plausibility when applied to certain behavioral effects. Specifically, behavioral data indicate that the timing system has a rich computational capacity, allowing observers to spontaneously compute novel intervals from previously learned ones. In population-clock theories, population patterns map to time arbitrarily, making it difficult to explain how different patterns can be computationally combined. Ramping models are viewed as more plausible, assuming upstream circuits can set the slope of ramping neurons according to a given computation. Critically, recent studies suggest that neurons with nonlinear firing profiles often scale to time different intervals-compressing for shorter intervals and stretching for longer ones. This "temporal scaling" effect has led to a hybrid-theory where, like a population-clock model, population patterns encode time, yet like a ramping neuron adjusting its slope, the speed of each neuron's firing adapts to different intervals. Here, we argue that these "relative" population-clock models are as computationally plausible as ramping theories, viewing population-speed and ramp-slope adjustments as equivalent. Therefore, we view identifying these "speed-control" circuits as a key direction for evaluating how the timing system performs computations. Furthermore, temporal scaling highlights that a key distinction between different neural models is whether they propose an absolute or relative time-representation. However, we note that several behavioral studies suggest the brain processes both scales, cautioning against a dichotomy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin J. De Corte
- Department of Psychology, Columbia University, New York, NY, United States
- Division of Developmental Neuroscience, New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY, United States
| | - Başak Akdoğan
- Department of Psychology, Columbia University, New York, NY, United States
- Division of Developmental Neuroscience, New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY, United States
| | - Peter D. Balsam
- Department of Psychology, Columbia University, New York, NY, United States
- Division of Developmental Neuroscience, New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY, United States
- Department of Neuroscience and Behavior, Barnard College, New York, NY, United States
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16
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Wang J, El-Jayyousi Y, Ozden I. A neural network model for timing control with reinforcement. Front Comput Neurosci 2022; 16:918031. [PMID: 36277612 PMCID: PMC9579423 DOI: 10.3389/fncom.2022.918031] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/11/2022] [Accepted: 09/12/2022] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
How do humans and animals perform trial-and-error learning when the space of possibilities is infinite? In a previous study, we used an interval timing production task and discovered an updating strategy in which the agent adjusted the behavioral and neuronal noise for exploration. In the experiment, human subjects proactively generated a series of timed motor outputs. Positive or negative feedback was provided after each response based on the timing accuracy. We found that the sequential motor timing varied at two temporal scales: long-term correlation around the target interval due to memory drifts and short-term adjustments of timing variability according to feedback. We have previously described these two key features of timing variability with an augmented Gaussian process, termed reward-sensitive Gaussian process (RSGP). In a nutshell, the temporal covariance of the timing variable was updated based on the feedback history to recreate the two behavioral characteristics mentioned above. However, the RSGP was mainly descriptive and lacked a neurobiological basis of how the reward feedback can be used by a neural circuit to adjust motor variability. Here we provide a mechanistic model and simulate the process by borrowing the architecture of recurrent neural networks (RNNs). While recurrent connection provided the long-term serial correlation in motor timing, to facilitate reward-driven short-term variations, we introduced reward-dependent variability in the network connectivity, inspired by the stochastic nature of synaptic transmission in the brain. Our model was able to recursively generate an output sequence incorporating internal variability and external reinforcement in a Bayesian framework. We show that the model can generate the temporal structure of the motor variability as a basis for exploration and exploitation trade-off. Unlike other neural network models that search for unique network connectivity for the best match between the model prediction and observation, this model can estimate the uncertainty associated with each outcome and thus did a better job in teasing apart adjustable task-relevant variability from unexplained variability. The proposed artificial neural network model parallels the mechanisms of information processing in neural systems and can extend the framework of brain-inspired reinforcement learning (RL) in continuous state control.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Ilker Ozden
- Department of Biomedical, Biological, and Chemical Engineering, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, United States
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17
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Mazzucato L. Neural mechanisms underlying the temporal organization of naturalistic animal behavior. eLife 2022; 11:76577. [PMID: 35792884 PMCID: PMC9259028 DOI: 10.7554/elife.76577] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/11/2022] [Accepted: 06/07/2022] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Naturalistic animal behavior exhibits a strikingly complex organization in the temporal domain, with variability arising from at least three sources: hierarchical, contextual, and stochastic. What neural mechanisms and computational principles underlie such intricate temporal features? In this review, we provide a critical assessment of the existing behavioral and neurophysiological evidence for these sources of temporal variability in naturalistic behavior. Recent research converges on an emergent mechanistic theory of temporal variability based on attractor neural networks and metastable dynamics, arising via coordinated interactions between mesoscopic neural circuits. We highlight the crucial role played by structural heterogeneities as well as noise from mesoscopic feedback loops in regulating flexible behavior. We assess the shortcomings and missing links in the current theoretical and experimental literature and propose new directions of investigation to fill these gaps.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luca Mazzucato
- Institute of Neuroscience, Departments of Biology, Mathematics and Physics, University of Oregon
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18
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Schreiner DC, Cazares C, Renteria R, Gremel CM. Information normally considered task-irrelevant drives decision-making and affects premotor circuit recruitment. Nat Commun 2022; 13:2134. [PMID: 35440120 PMCID: PMC9018678 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-29807-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/08/2021] [Accepted: 03/24/2022] [Indexed: 02/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Decision-making is a continuous and dynamic process with prior experience reflected in and used by the brain to guide adaptive behavior. However, most neurobiological studies constrain behavior and/or analyses to task-related variables, not accounting for the continuous internal and temporal space in which they occur. We show mice rely on information learned through recent and longer-term experience beyond just prior actions and reward - including checking behavior and the passage of time - to guide self-initiated, self-paced, and self-generated actions. These experiences are represented in secondary motor cortex (M2) activity and its projections into dorsal medial striatum (DMS). M2 integrates this information to bias strategy-level decision-making, and DMS projections reflect specific aspects of this recent experience to guide actions. This suggests diverse aspects of experience drive decision-making and its neural representation, and shows premotor corticostriatal circuits are crucial for using selective aspects of experiential information to guide adaptive behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Drew C Schreiner
- Department of Psychology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA
| | - Christian Cazares
- The Neurosciences Graduate Program, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA
| | - Rafael Renteria
- Department of Psychology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA
| | - Christina M Gremel
- Department of Psychology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA.
- The Neurosciences Graduate Program, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA.
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19
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Aflalo T, Zhang C, Revechkis B, Rosario E, Pouratian N, Andersen RA. Implicit mechanisms of intention. Curr Biol 2022; 32:2051-2060.e6. [PMID: 35390282 PMCID: PMC9090994 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2022.03.047] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/06/2021] [Revised: 02/03/2022] [Accepted: 03/15/2022] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
High-level cortical regions encode motor decisions before or even absent awareness, suggesting that neural processes predetermine behavior before conscious choice. Such early neural encoding challenges popular conceptions of human agency. It also raises fundamental questions for brain-machine interfaces (BMIs) that traditionally assume that neural activity reflects the user's conscious intentions. Here, we study the timing of human posterior parietal cortex single-neuron activity recorded from implanted microelectrode arrays relative to the explicit urge to initiate movement. Participants were free to choose when to move, whether to move, and what to move, and they retrospectively reported the time they felt the urge to move. We replicate prior studies by showing that posterior parietal cortex (PPC) neural activity sharply rises hundreds of milliseconds before the reported urge. However, we find that this "preconscious" activity is part of a dynamic neural population response that initiates much earlier, when the participant first chooses to perform the task. Together with details of neural timing, our results suggest that PPC encodes an internal model of the motor planning network that transforms high-level task objectives into appropriate motor behavior. These new data challenge traditional interpretations of early neural activity and offer a more holistic perspective on the interplay between choice, behavior, and their neural underpinnings. Our results have important implications for translating BMIs into more complex real-world environments. We find that early neural dynamics are sufficient to drive BMI movements before the participant intends to initiate movement. Appropriate algorithms ensure that BMI movements align with the subject's awareness of choice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tyson Aflalo
- California Institute of Technology, Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, 1200 E California Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91125, USA; California Institute of Technology, Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Brain-Machine Interface Center, 1200 E California Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.
| | - Carey Zhang
- California Institute of Technology, Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, 1200 E California Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
| | - Boris Revechkis
- California Institute of Technology, Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, 1200 E California Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
| | - Emily Rosario
- Casa Colina Hospital and Centers for Rehabilitation, 255 E Bonita Ave, Pomona, CA 91767, USA
| | - Nader Pouratian
- University of California, Los Angeles, Geffen School of Medicine, 10833 Le Conte Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
| | - Richard A Andersen
- California Institute of Technology, Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, 1200 E California Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91125, USA; California Institute of Technology, Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Brain-Machine Interface Center, 1200 E California Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
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20
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Khalighinejad N, Manohar S, Husain M, Rushworth MFS. Complementary roles of serotonergic and cholinergic systems in decisions about when to act. Curr Biol 2022; 32:1150-1162.e7. [PMID: 35150603 PMCID: PMC8926843 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2022.01.042] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/04/2021] [Revised: 11/15/2021] [Accepted: 01/17/2022] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
Decision-making not only involves deciding about which action to choose but when and whether to initiate an action in the first place. Macaque monkeys tracked number of dots on a screen and could choose when to make a response. The longer the animals waited before responding, the more dots appeared on the screen and the higher the probability of reward. Monkeys waited longer before making a response when a trial’s value was less than the environment’s average value. Recordings of brain activity with fMRI revealed that activity in dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN)—a key source of serotonin (5-HT)—tracked average value of the environment. By contrast, activity in the basal forebrain (BF)—an important source of acetylcholine (ACh)—was related to decision time to act as a function of immediate and recent past context. Interactions between DRN and BF and the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), another region with action initiation-related activity, occurred as a function of the decision time to act. Next, we performed two psychopharmacological studies. Manipulating systemic 5-HT by citalopram prolonged the time macaques waited to respond for a given opportunity. This effect was more evident during blocks with long inter-trial intervals (ITIs) where good opportunities were sparse. Manipulating systemic acetylcholine (ACh) by rivastigmine reduced the time macaques waited to respond given the immediate and recent past context, a pattern opposite to the effect observed with 5-HT. These findings suggest complementary roles for serotonin/DRN and acetylcholine/BF in decisions about when to initiate an action. Both immediate context and wider environment influence decisions about when to act DRN and 5-HT mediate the influence of wider environment BF and ACh mediate the influence of immediate context
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Affiliation(s)
- Nima Khalighinejad
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
| | - Sanjay Manohar
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK; Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Masud Husain
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK; Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Matthew F S Rushworth
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
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21
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Metastable attractors explain the variable timing of stable behavioral action sequences. Neuron 2022; 110:139-153.e9. [PMID: 34717794 PMCID: PMC9194601 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2021.10.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/10/2021] [Revised: 08/30/2021] [Accepted: 10/05/2021] [Indexed: 01/07/2023]
Abstract
The timing of self-initiated actions shows large variability even when they are executed in stable, well-learned sequences. Could this mix of reliability and stochasticity arise within the same neural circuit? We trained rats to perform a stereotyped sequence of self-initiated actions and recorded neural ensemble activity in secondary motor cortex (M2), which is known to reflect trial-by-trial action-timing fluctuations. Using hidden Markov models, we established a dictionary between activity patterns and actions. We then showed that metastable attractors, representing activity patterns with a reliable sequential structure and large transition timing variability, could be produced by reciprocally coupling a high-dimensional recurrent network and a low-dimensional feedforward one. Transitions between attractors relied on correlated variability in this mesoscale feedback loop, predicting a specific structure of low-dimensional correlations that were empirically verified in M2 recordings. Our results suggest a novel mesoscale network motif based on correlated variability supporting naturalistic animal behavior.
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22
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Henke J, Bunk D, von Werder D, Häusler S, Flanagin VL, Thurley K. Distributed coding of duration in rodent prefrontal cortex during time reproduction. eLife 2021; 10:71612. [PMID: 34939922 PMCID: PMC8786316 DOI: 10.7554/elife.71612] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/24/2021] [Accepted: 12/14/2021] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
As we interact with the external world, we judge magnitudes from sensory information. The estimation of magnitudes has been characterized in primates, yet it is largely unexplored in nonprimate species. Here, we use time interval reproduction to study rodent behavior and its neural correlates in the context of magnitude estimation. We show that gerbils display primate-like magnitude estimation characteristics in time reproduction. Most prominently their behavioral responses show a systematic overestimation of small stimuli and an underestimation of large stimuli, often referred to as regression effect. We investigated the underlying neural mechanisms by recording from medial prefrontal cortex and show that the majority of neurons respond either during the measurement or the reproduction of a time interval. Cells that are active during both phases display distinct response patterns. We categorize the neural responses into multiple types and demonstrate that only populations with mixed responses can encode the bias of the regression effect. These results help unveil the organizing neural principles of time reproduction and perhaps magnitude estimation in general.
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Affiliation(s)
- Josephine Henke
- Faculty of Biology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet Muenchen, Planegg-Martinsried, Germany
| | - David Bunk
- Faculty of Biology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet Muenchen, Planegg-Martinsried, Germany
| | - Dina von Werder
- Faculty of Biology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet Muenchen, Planegg-Martinsried, Germany
| | - Stefan Häusler
- Faculty of Biology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet Muenchen, Planegg-Martinsried, Germany
| | - Virginia L Flanagin
- German Center for Vertigo and Balance Disorders,, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet Muenchen, Munich, Germany
| | - Kay Thurley
- Faculty of Biology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet Muenchen, Planegg-Martinsried, Germany
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23
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Duan CA, Pan Y, Ma G, Zhou T, Zhang S, Xu NL. A cortico-collicular pathway for motor planning in a memory-dependent perceptual decision task. Nat Commun 2021; 12:2727. [PMID: 33976124 PMCID: PMC8113349 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-22547-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/20/2020] [Accepted: 03/19/2021] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Survival in a dynamic environment requires animals to plan future actions based on past sensory evidence, known as motor planning. However, the neuronal circuits underlying this crucial brain function remain elusive. Here, we employ projection-specific imaging and perturbation methods to investigate the direct pathway linking two key nodes in the motor planning network, the secondary motor cortex (M2) and the midbrain superior colliculus (SC), in mice performing a memory-dependent perceptual decision task. We find dynamic coding of choice information in SC-projecting M2 neurons during motor planning and execution, and disruption of this information by inhibiting M2 terminals in SC selectively impaired decision maintenance. Furthermore, we show that while both excitatory and inhibitory SC neurons receive synaptic inputs from M2, these SC subpopulations display differential temporal patterns in choice coding during behavior. Our results reveal the dynamic recruitment of the premotor-collicular pathway as a circuit mechanism for motor planning. Duan, Pan et al. find that the premotor cortex cooperates with the midbrain superior colliculus via direct projections to implement decision maintenance. These results reveal mechanisms of cortico-collicular interaction during cognition and action in a pathway- and cell-type-specific manner.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chunyu A Duan
- Institute of Neuroscience, State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China.
| | - Yuxin Pan
- Institute of Neuroscience, State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China.,University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Guofen Ma
- Collaborative Innovation Center for Brain Science, Department of Anatomy and Physiology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Taotao Zhou
- Institute of Neuroscience, State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
| | - Siyu Zhang
- Collaborative Innovation Center for Brain Science, Department of Anatomy and Physiology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Ning-Long Xu
- Institute of Neuroscience, State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China. .,University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China. .,Shanghai Center for Brain Science and Brain-Inspired Intelligence Technology, Shanghai, China.
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24
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Sachuriga, Nishimaru H, Takamura Y, Matsumoto J, Ferreira Pereira de Araújo M, Ono T, Nishijo H. Neuronal Representation of Locomotion During Motivated Behavior in the Mouse Anterior Cingulate Cortex. Front Syst Neurosci 2021; 15:655110. [PMID: 33994964 PMCID: PMC8116624 DOI: 10.3389/fnsys.2021.655110] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/18/2021] [Accepted: 02/26/2021] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is located within the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (PFC), and processes and facilitates goal-directed behaviors relating to emotion, reward, and motor control. However, it is unclear how ACC neurons dynamically encode motivated behavior during locomotion. In this study, we examined how information for locomotion and behavioral outcomes is temporally represented by individual and ensembles of ACC neurons in mice during a self-paced locomotor reward-based task. By recording and analyzing the activity of ACC neurons with a microdrive tetrode array while the mouse performed the locomotor task, we found that more than two-fifths of the neurons showed phasic activity relating to locomotion or the reward behavior. Some of these neurons showed significant differences in their firing rate depending on the behavioral outcome. Furthermore, by applying a demixed principal component analysis, the ACC population activity was decomposed into components representing locomotion and the previous/future outcome. These results indicated that ACC neurons dynamically integrate motor and behavioral inputs during goal-directed behaviors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sachuriga
- System Emotional Science, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toyama, Toyama, Japan.,Graduate School of Innovative Life Science, University of Toyama, Toyama, Japan
| | - Hiroshi Nishimaru
- System Emotional Science, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toyama, Toyama, Japan.,Graduate School of Innovative Life Science, University of Toyama, Toyama, Japan.,Research Center for Idling Brain Science, University of Toyama, Toyama, Japan
| | - Yusaku Takamura
- System Emotional Science, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toyama, Toyama, Japan
| | - Jumpei Matsumoto
- System Emotional Science, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toyama, Toyama, Japan.,Graduate School of Innovative Life Science, University of Toyama, Toyama, Japan.,Research Center for Idling Brain Science, University of Toyama, Toyama, Japan
| | | | - Taketoshi Ono
- System Emotional Science, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toyama, Toyama, Japan
| | - Hisao Nishijo
- System Emotional Science, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toyama, Toyama, Japan.,Graduate School of Innovative Life Science, University of Toyama, Toyama, Japan.,Research Center for Idling Brain Science, University of Toyama, Toyama, Japan
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25
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Schurger A, Hu P'B, Pak J, Roskies AL. What Is the Readiness Potential? Trends Cogn Sci 2021; 25:558-570. [PMID: 33931306 PMCID: PMC8192467 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2021.04.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/14/2021] [Revised: 03/29/2021] [Accepted: 04/01/2021] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
The readiness potential (RP), a slow buildup of electrical potential recorded at the scalp using electroencephalography, has been associated with neural activity involved in movement preparation. It became famous thanks to Benjamin Libet (Brain 1983;106:623-642), who used the time difference between the RP and self-reported time of conscious intention to move to argue that we lack free will. The RP's informativeness about self-generated action and derivatively about free will has prompted continued research on this neural phenomenon. Here, we argue that recent advances in our understanding of the RP, including computational modeling of the phenomenon, call for a reassessment of its relevance for understanding volition and the philosophical problem of free will.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aaron Schurger
- Department of Psychology, Crean College of Health and Behavioral Sciences, Chapman University, One University Drive, Orange, CA 92867, USA; Institute for Interdisciplinary Brain and Behavioral Sciences, Chapman University, 14725 Alton Parkway, Irvine, CA 92618, USA; INSERM, Cognitive Neuroimaging Unit, NeuroSpin Center, Gif sur Yvette 91191, France; Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique, Direction des Sciences du Vivant, I2BM, NeuroSpin Center, Gif sur Yvette 91191, France.
| | - Pengbo 'Ben' Hu
- Department of Linguistics and Cognitive Science, Pomona College, Claremont, CA 91711, USA
| | - Joanna Pak
- Institute for Interdisciplinary Brain and Behavioral Sciences, Chapman University, 14725 Alton Parkway, Irvine, CA 92618, USA
| | - Adina L Roskies
- Department of Philosophy and Program in Cognitive Science, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755, USA.
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26
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Wilson RC, Bonawitz E, Costa VD, Ebitz RB. Balancing exploration and exploitation with information and randomization. Curr Opin Behav Sci 2021; 38:49-56. [PMID: 33184605 PMCID: PMC7654823 DOI: 10.1016/j.cobeha.2020.10.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 62] [Impact Index Per Article: 20.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
Abstract
Explore-exploit decisions require us to trade off the benefits of exploring unknown options to learn more about them, with exploiting known options, for immediate reward. Such decisions are ubiquitous in nature, but from a computational perspective, they are notoriously hard. There is therefore much interest in how humans and animals make these decisions and recently there has been an explosion of research in this area. Here we provide a biased and incomplete snapshot of this field focusing on the major finding that many organisms use two distinct strategies to solve the explore-exploit dilemma: a bias for information ('directed exploration') and the randomization of choice ('random exploration'). We review evidence for the existence of these strategies, their computational properties, their neural implementations, as well as how directed and random exploration vary over the lifespan. We conclude by highlighting open questions in this field that are ripe to both explore and exploit.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robert C. Wilson
- Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson AZ USA
- Cognitive Science Program, University of Arizona, Tucson AZ USA
- Evelyn F. McKnight Brain Institute, University of Arizona, Tucson AZ USA
| | | | - Vincent D. Costa
- Department of Behavioral Neuroscience, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland OR USA
| | - R. Becket Ebitz
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada
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27
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Parés-Pujolràs E, Travers E, Ahmetoglu Y, Haggard P. Evidence accumulation under uncertainty - a neural marker of emerging choice and urgency. Neuroimage 2021; 232:117863. [PMID: 33617993 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.117863] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/06/2020] [Revised: 02/01/2021] [Accepted: 02/09/2021] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
To interact meaningfully with its environment, an agent must integrate external information with its own internal states. However, information about the environment is often noisy. In this study, we identify a neural correlate that tracks how asymmetries between competing alternatives evolve over the course of a decision. In our task participants had to monitor a stream of discrete visual stimuli over time and decide whether or not to act, on the basis of either strong or ambiguous evidence. We found that the classic P3 event-related potential evoked by sequential evidence items tracked decision-making processes and predicted participants' categorical choices on a single trial level, both when evidence was strong and when it was ambiguous. The P3 amplitudes in response to evidence supporting the eventually selected option increased over trial time as decisions evolved, being maximally different from the P3 amplitudes evoked by competing evidence at the time of decision. Computational modelling showed that both the neural dynamics and behavioural primacy and recency effects can be explained by a combination of (a) competition between mutually inhibiting accumulators for the two categorical choice outcomes, and (b) a context-dependant urgency signal. In conditions where evidence was presented at a low rate, urgency increased faster than in conditions when evidence was very frequent. We also found that the readiness potential, a classic marker of endogenously initiated actions, was observed preceding movements in all conditions - even when those were strongly driven by external evidence.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Eoin Travers
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London WC1 3AR, UK
| | - Yoana Ahmetoglu
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London WC1 3AR, UK
| | - Patrick Haggard
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London WC1 3AR, UK
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28
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Procyk E, Fontanier V, Sarazin M, Delord B, Goussi C, Wilson CRE. The midcingulate cortex and temporal integration. INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF NEUROBIOLOGY 2021; 158:395-419. [PMID: 33785153 DOI: 10.1016/bs.irn.2020.12.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/04/2023]
Abstract
The ability to integrate information across time at multiple timescales is a vital element of adaptive behavior, because it provides the capacity to link events separated in time, extract useful information from previous events and actions, and to construct plans for behavior over time. Here we make the argument that this information integration capacity is a central function of the midcingulate cortex (MCC), by reviewing the anatomical, intrinsic network, neurophysiological, and behavioral properties of MCC. The MCC is the region of the medial wall situated dorsal to the corpus callosum and sometimes referred to as dACC. It is positioned within the densely connected core network of the primate brain, with a rich diversity of cognitive, somatomotor and autonomic connections. Furthermore, the MCC shows strong local network inhibition which appears to control the metastability of the region-an established feature of many cortical networks in which the neural dynamics move through a series of quasi-stationary states. We propose that the strong local inhibition in MCC leads to particularly long dynamic state durations, and so less frequent transitions. Apparently as a result of these anatomical features and synaptic and ionic determinants, the MCC cells display the longest neuronal timescales among a range of recorded cortical areas. We conclude that the anatomical position, intrinsic properties, and local network interactions of MCC make it a uniquely positioned cortical area to perform the integration of diverse information over time that is necessary for behavioral adaptation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emmanuel Procyk
- Univ Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Inserm, Stem Cell and Brain Research Institute U1208, Bron, France.
| | - Vincent Fontanier
- Univ Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Inserm, Stem Cell and Brain Research Institute U1208, Bron, France
| | - Matthieu Sarazin
- Institute of Intelligent Systems and Robotics (ISIR), Sorbonne Université, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, UMR 7222, Paris, France
| | - Bruno Delord
- Institute of Intelligent Systems and Robotics (ISIR), Sorbonne Université, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, UMR 7222, Paris, France
| | - Clément Goussi
- Univ Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Inserm, Stem Cell and Brain Research Institute U1208, Bron, France
| | - Charles R E Wilson
- Univ Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Inserm, Stem Cell and Brain Research Institute U1208, Bron, France.
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29
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Bari BA, Cohen JY. Dynamic decision making and value computations in medial frontal cortex. INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF NEUROBIOLOGY 2021; 158:83-113. [PMID: 33785157 DOI: 10.1016/bs.irn.2020.12.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/04/2023]
Abstract
Dynamic decision making requires an intact medial frontal cortex. Recent work has combined theory and single-neuron measurements in frontal cortex to advance models of decision making. We review behavioral tasks that have been used to study dynamic decision making and algorithmic models of these tasks using reinforcement learning theory. We discuss studies linking neurophysiology and quantitative decision variables. We conclude with hypotheses about the role of other cortical and subcortical structures in dynamic decision making, including ascending neuromodulatory systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bilal A Bari
- The Solomon H. Snyder Department of Neuroscience, Brain Science Institute, Kavli Neuroscience Discovery Institute, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, United States
| | - Jeremiah Y Cohen
- The Solomon H. Snyder Department of Neuroscience, Brain Science Institute, Kavli Neuroscience Discovery Institute, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, United States.
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Mapping Large-Scale Networks Associated with Action, Behavioral Inhibition and Impulsivity. eNeuro 2021; 8:ENEURO.0406-20.2021. [PMID: 33509949 PMCID: PMC7920541 DOI: 10.1523/eneuro.0406-20.2021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/20/2020] [Revised: 01/06/2021] [Accepted: 01/08/2021] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
A key aspect of behavioral inhibition is the ability to wait before acting. Failures in this form of inhibition result in impulsivity and are commonly observed in various neuropsychiatric disorders. Prior evidence has implicated medial frontal cortex, motor cortex, orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), and ventral striatum in various aspects of inhibition. Here, using distributed recordings of brain activity [with local-field potentials (LFPs)] in rodents, we identified oscillatory patterns of activity linked with action and inhibition. Low-frequency (δ) activity within motor and premotor circuits was observed in two distinct networks, the first involved in cued, sensory-based responses and the second more generally in both cued and delayed actions. By contrast, θ activity within prefrontal and premotor regions (medial frontal cortex, OFC, ventral striatum, and premotor cortex) was linked with inhibition. Connectivity at θ frequencies was observed within this network of brain regions. Interestingly, greater connectivity between primary motor cortex (M1) and other motor regions was linked with greater impulsivity, whereas greater connectivity between M1 and inhibitory brain regions (OFC, ventral striatum) was linked with improved inhibition and diminished impulsivity. We observed similar patterns of activity on a parallel task in humans: low-frequency activity in sensorimotor cortex linked with action, θ activity in OFC/ventral prefrontal cortex (PFC) linked with inhibition. Thus, we show that δ and θ oscillations form distinct large-scale networks associated with action and inhibition, respectively.
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Yang JH, Kwan AC. Secondary motor cortex: Broadcasting and biasing animal's decisions through long-range circuits. INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF NEUROBIOLOGY 2020; 158:443-470. [PMID: 33785155 PMCID: PMC8190828 DOI: 10.1016/bs.irn.2020.11.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Medial secondary motor cortex (MOs or M2) constitutes the dorsal aspect of the rodent medial frontal cortex. We previously proposed that the function of MOs is to link antecedent conditions, including sensory stimuli and prior choices, to impending actions. In this review, we focus on the long-range pathways between MOs and other cortical and subcortical regions. We highlight three circuits: (1) connections with visual and auditory cortices that are essential for predictive coding of perceptual inputs; (2) connections with motor cortex and brainstem that are responsible for top-down, context-dependent modulation of movements; (3) connections with retrosplenial cortex, orbitofrontal cortex, and basal ganglia that facilitate reward-based learning. Together, these long-range circuits allow MOs to broadcast choice signals for feedback and to bias decision-making processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jen-Hau Yang
- Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, United States
| | - Alex C Kwan
- Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, United States; Department of Neuroscience, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, United States.
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32
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Prefrontal contributions to action control in rodents. INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF NEUROBIOLOGY 2020; 158:373-393. [PMID: 33785152 DOI: 10.1016/bs.irn.2020.11.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/04/2023]
Abstract
The rodent medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) is typically considered to be involved in cognitive aspects of action control, e.g., decision making, rule learning and application, working memory and generally guiding adaptive behavior (Euston, Gruber, & McNaughton, 2012). These cognitive aspects often occur on relatively slow time scales, i.e., in the order of several trials within a block structure (Murakami, Shteingart, Loewenstein, & Mainen, 2017). In this way, the mPFC is able to set up a representational memory (Goldman-Rakic, 1987). On the other hand, the mPFC can also impact action control more directly (i.e., more on the motoric and less cognitive side). This impact on motor control manifests on faster time scales, i.e., on a single trial level (Hardung et al., 2017). While the more cognitive aspects have been reviewed previously as well as in other subchapters of this book, we explicitly focus on the latter aspect in this chapter, particularly on movement inhibition. We discuss models of prefrontal motor interactions, the impact of the behavioral paradigm, evidences for mPFC involvement in action control, and the anatomical connections between mPFC and motor cortex.
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Wang J, Hosseini E, Meirhaeghe N, Akkad A, Jazayeri M. Reinforcement regulates timing variability in thalamus. eLife 2020; 9:55872. [PMID: 33258769 PMCID: PMC7707818 DOI: 10.7554/elife.55872] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/08/2020] [Accepted: 11/06/2020] [Indexed: 01/19/2023] Open
Abstract
Learning reduces variability but variability can facilitate learning. This paradoxical relationship has made it challenging to tease apart sources of variability that degrade performance from those that improve it. We tackled this question in a context-dependent timing task requiring humans and monkeys to flexibly produce different time intervals with different effectors. We identified two opposing factors contributing to timing variability: slow memory fluctuation that degrades performance and reward-dependent exploratory behavior that improves performance. Signatures of these opposing factors were evident across populations of neurons in the dorsomedial frontal cortex (DMFC), DMFC-projecting neurons in the ventrolateral thalamus, and putative target of DMFC in the caudate. However, only in the thalamus were the performance-optimizing regulation of variability aligned to the slow performance-degrading memory fluctuations. These findings reveal how variability caused by exploratory behavior might help to mitigate other undesirable sources of variability and highlight a potential role for thalamocortical projections in this process.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jing Wang
- Department of Bioengineering, University of Missouri, Columbia, United States.,McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, United States
| | - Eghbal Hosseini
- McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, United States
| | - Nicolas Meirhaeghe
- Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Cambridge, United States
| | - Adam Akkad
- McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, United States
| | - Mehrdad Jazayeri
- McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, United States
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34
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Travers E, Friedemann M, Haggard P. The Readiness Potential reflects planning-based expectation, not uncertainty, in the timing of action. Cogn Neurosci 2020; 12:14-27. [PMID: 33153362 DOI: 10.1080/17588928.2020.1824176] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
Actions are guided by a combination of external cues, internal intentions, and stored knowledge. Self-initiated voluntary actions, produced without immediate external cues, may be preceded by a slow EEG Readiness Potential (RP) that progressively increases prior to action. The cognitive significance of this neural event is controversial. Some accounts link the RP to the fact that timing of voluntary actions is generated endogenously, without external constraints. Others link it to the unique role of a planning process, and therefore of temporal expectation, in voluntary actions. In many previous experiments, actions are unconstrained by external cues, but also potentially involve preplanning and anticipation. To separate these factors, we developed a reinforcement learning paradigm where participants learned, through trial and error, the optimal time to act. If the RP reflects freedom from external constraint, its amplitude should be greater early in learning, when participants do not yet know when to act. Conversely, if the RP reflects planning, it should be greater later on, when participants have learned, and plan in advance, the time of action. We found that RP amplitudes grew with learning, suggesting that this neural activity reflects planning and anticipation for the forthcoming action, rather than freedom from external constraint.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eoin Travers
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London , London, UK
| | - Maja Friedemann
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London , London, UK.,Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford , Oxford, UK
| | - Patrick Haggard
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London , London, UK
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35
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Kawabata M, Soma S, Saiki-Ishikawa A, Nonomura S, Yoshida J, Ríos A, Sakai Y, Isomura Y. A spike analysis method for characterizing neurons based on phase locking and scaling to the interval between two behavioral events. J Neurophysiol 2020; 124:1923-1941. [PMID: 33085554 DOI: 10.1152/jn.00200.2020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Standard analysis of neuronal functions assesses the temporal correlation between animal behaviors and neuronal activity by aligning spike trains with the timing of a specific behavioral event, e.g., visual cue. However, spike activity is often involved in information processing dependent on a relative phase between two consecutive events rather than a single event. Nevertheless, less attention has so far been paid to such temporal features of spike activity in relation to two behavioral events. Here, we propose "Phase-Scaling analysis" to simultaneously evaluate the phase locking and scaling to the interval between two events in task-related spike activity of individual neurons. This analysis method can discriminate conceptual "scaled"-type neurons from "nonscaled"-type neurons using an activity variation map that combines phase locking with scaling to the interval. Its robustness was validated by spike simulation using different spike properties. Furthermore, we applied it to analyzing actual spike data from task-related neurons in the primary visual cortex (V1), posterior parietal cortex (PPC), primary motor cortex (M1), and secondary motor cortex (M2) of behaving rats. After hierarchical clustering of all neurons using their activity variation maps, we divided them objectively into four clusters corresponding to nonscaled-type sensory and motor neurons and scaled-type neurons including sustained and ramping activities, etc. Cluster/subcluster compositions for V1 differed from those of PPC, M1, and M2. The V1 neurons showed the fastest functional activities among those areas. Our method was also applicable to determine temporal "forms" and the latency of spike activity changes. These findings demonstrate its utility for characterizing neurons.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Phase-Scaling analysis is a novel technique to unbiasedly characterize the temporal dependency of functional neuron activity on two behavioral events and objectively determine the latency and form of the activity change. This powerful analysis can uncover several classes of latently functioning neurons that have thus far been overlooked, which may participate differently in intermediate processes of a brain function. The Phase-Scaling analysis will yield profound insights into neural mechanisms for processing internal information.
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Affiliation(s)
- Masanori Kawabata
- Department of Physiology and Cell Biology, Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan.,Graduate School of Brain Sciences, Tamagawa University, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Shogo Soma
- Brain Science Institute, Tamagawa University, Tokyo, Japan.,Department of Molecular Cell Physiology, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Akiko Saiki-Ishikawa
- Brain Science Institute, Tamagawa University, Tokyo, Japan.,Department of Neurobiology, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois
| | - Satoshi Nonomura
- Department of Physiology and Cell Biology, Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan.,Brain Science Institute, Tamagawa University, Tokyo, Japan.,Systems Neuroscience Section, Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, Aichi, Japan
| | - Junichi Yoshida
- Brain Science Institute, Tamagawa University, Tokyo, Japan.,Dominick P. Purpura Department of Neuroscience, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York
| | - Alain Ríos
- Department of Physiology and Cell Biology, Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan.,Graduate School of Brain Sciences, Tamagawa University, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Yutaka Sakai
- Graduate School of Brain Sciences, Tamagawa University, Tokyo, Japan.,Brain Science Institute, Tamagawa University, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Yoshikazu Isomura
- Department of Physiology and Cell Biology, Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan.,Graduate School of Brain Sciences, Tamagawa University, Tokyo, Japan.,Brain Science Institute, Tamagawa University, Tokyo, Japan
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Barthas F, Hu MY, Siniscalchi MJ, Ali F, Mineur YS, Picciotto MR, Kwan AC. Cumulative Effects of Social Stress on Reward-Guided Actions and Prefrontal Cortical Activity. Biol Psychiatry 2020; 88:541-553. [PMID: 32276717 PMCID: PMC7434704 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2020.02.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/05/2019] [Revised: 01/27/2020] [Accepted: 02/09/2020] [Indexed: 02/02/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND When exposed to chronic social stress, animals display behavioral changes that are relevant to depressive-like phenotypes. However, the cascading relationship between incremental stress exposure and neural dysfunctions over time remains incompletely understood. METHODS We characterized the longitudinal effect of social defeat on goal-directed actions and prefrontal cortical activity in mice using a novel head-fixed sucrose preference task and two-photon calcium imaging. RESULTS Behaviorally, stress-induced loss of reward sensitivity intensifies over days. Motivational anhedonia, the failure to translate positive reinforcements into future actions, requires multiple sessions of stress exposure to become fully established. For neural activity, individual layer 2/3 pyramidal neurons in the cingulate and medial secondary motor subregions of the medial prefrontal cortex have heterogeneous responses to stress. Changes in ensemble activity differ significantly between susceptible and resilient mice after the first defeat session and continue to diverge following successive stress episodes before reaching persistent abnormal levels. CONCLUSIONS Collectively, these results demonstrate that the cumulative impact of an ethologically relevant stress can be observed at the level of cellular activity of individual prefrontal neurons. The distinct neural responses associated with resilience versus susceptibility suggests the hypothesis that the negative impact of social stress is neutralized in resilient animals, in part through an adaptive reorganization of prefrontal cortical activity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Florent Barthas
- Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
| | - Melody Y. Hu
- Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
| | - Michael J. Siniscalchi
- Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06511, USA,Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
| | - Farhan Ali
- Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
| | - Yann S. Mineur
- Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
| | - Marina R. Picciotto
- Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06511, USA,Department of Neuroscience, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
| | - Alex C. Kwan
- Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06511, USA,Department of Neuroscience, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
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37
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Tallot L, Doyère V. Neural encoding of time in the animal brain. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2020; 115:146-163. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2019.12.033] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/06/2019] [Revised: 10/23/2019] [Accepted: 12/03/2019] [Indexed: 01/25/2023]
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38
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Balaguer-Ballester E, Nogueira R, Abofalia JM, Moreno-Bote R, Sanchez-Vives MV. Representation of foreseeable choice outcomes in orbitofrontal cortex triplet-wise interactions. PLoS Comput Biol 2020; 16:e1007862. [PMID: 32579563 PMCID: PMC7313741 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1007862] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/01/2019] [Accepted: 04/09/2020] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Shared neuronal variability has been shown to modulate cognitive processing. However, the relationship between shared variability and behavioral performance is heterogeneous and complex in frontal areas such as the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC). Mounting evidence shows that single-units in OFC encode a detailed cognitive map of task-space events, but the existence of a robust neuronal ensemble coding for the predictability of choice outcome is less established. Here, we hypothesize that the coding of foreseeable outcomes is potentially unclear from the analysis of units activity and their pairwise correlations. However, this code might be established more conclusively when higher-order neuronal interactions are mapped to the choice outcome. As a case study, we investigated the trial-to-trial shared variability of neuronal ensemble activity during a two-choice interval-discrimination task in rodent OFC, specifically designed such that a lose-switch strategy is optimal by repeating the rewarded stimulus in the upcoming trial. Results show that correlations among triplets are higher during correct choices with respect to incorrect ones, and that this is sustained during the entire trial. This effect is not observed for pairwise nor for higher than third-order correlations. This scenario is compatible with constellations of up to three interacting units assembled during trials in which the task is performed correctly. More interestingly, a state-space spanned by such constellations shows that only correct outcome states that can be successfully predicted are robust over 100 trials of the task, and thus they can be accurately decoded. However, both incorrect and unpredictable outcome representations were unstable and thus non-decodeable, due to spurious negative correlations. Our results suggest that predictability of successful outcomes, and hence the optimal behavioral strategy, can be mapped out in OFC ensemble states reliable over trials of the task, and revealed by sufficiency complex neuronal interactions. Neuronal responses can differ substantially during repetitions of the same tasks; however, they are often coordinated (shared) across multiple neighboring neurons. Such correlation between neurons has been related to the capacity of the brain to take decisions, but specifically how this relation is established is still under study. In this work, we address this question by focusing on an intriguing case study, the orbitofrontal cortex, since this brain area has been found in various studies to be useful for decision-making. Here, we question whether orchestrated groups of neurons encode sufficient information for optimizing their decision strategy; that is, whether the outcome of a choice can be predicted or not on the basis of previous experience. We thus designed a decision-making task for a rat in which some of the correct choices can be predicted. We found that only successful outcomes that can actually be predicted were robustly encoded over time. This finding was shown by analyzing sufficiently complex interactions between three neurons, whilst more complex orchestrations did not add further insights. Thus, we propose that coordinated responses of up to three neurons in the OFC could contribute to the capacity of the animal to take the optimal decision.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emili Balaguer-Ballester
- Department of Computing and Informatics, Faculty of Science and Technology, Bournemouth University, Poole, United Kingdom
- Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, Medical Faculty Mannheim and Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany
- * E-mail:
| | - Ramon Nogueira
- Center for Theoretical Neuroscience, Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Columbia University, New York, New York, United States of America
| | - Juan M. Abofalia
- IDIBAPS (Institut d’Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer), Barcelona, Spain
| | - Ruben Moreno-Bote
- Department of Information and Communication Technologies, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain
- Center for Brain and Cognition, Mercé Rodoreda building (Ciutadella campus), Barcelona, Spain
- Serra Húnter Fellow Programme, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Maria V. Sanchez-Vives
- IDIBAPS (Institut d’Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer), Barcelona, Spain
- ICREA (Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats), Barcelona, Spain
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Wang TY, Liu J, Yao H. Control of adaptive action selection by secondary motor cortex during flexible visual categorization. eLife 2020; 9:54474. [PMID: 32579113 PMCID: PMC7343391 DOI: 10.7554/elife.54474] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/16/2019] [Accepted: 06/24/2020] [Indexed: 01/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Adaptive action selection during stimulus categorization is an important feature of flexible behavior. To examine neural mechanism underlying this process, we trained mice to categorize the spatial frequencies of visual stimuli according to a boundary that changed between blocks of trials in a session. Using a model with a dynamic decision criterion, we found that sensory history was important for adaptive action selection after the switch of boundary. Bilateral inactivation of the secondary motor cortex (M2) impaired adaptive action selection by reducing the behavioral influence of sensory history. Electrophysiological recordings showed that M2 neurons carried more information about upcoming choice and previous sensory stimuli when sensorimotor association was being remapped than when it was stable. Thus, M2 causally contributes to flexible action selection during stimulus categorization, with the representations of upcoming choice and sensory history regulated by the demand to remap stimulus-action association.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tian-Yi Wang
- Institute of Neuroscience, State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China.,University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Jing Liu
- Institute of Neuroscience, State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China.,University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Haishan Yao
- Institute of Neuroscience, State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China.,Shanghai Center for Brain Science and Brain-Inspired Intelligence Technology, Shanghai, China
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Masset P, Ott T, Lak A, Hirokawa J, Kepecs A. Behavior- and Modality-General Representation of Confidence in Orbitofrontal Cortex. Cell 2020; 182:112-126.e18. [PMID: 32504542 DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2020.05.022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/27/2019] [Revised: 02/27/2020] [Accepted: 05/11/2020] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
Every decision we make is accompanied by a sense of confidence about its likely outcome. This sense informs subsequent behavior, such as investing more-whether time, effort, or money-when reward is more certain. A neural representation of confidence should originate from a statistical computation and predict confidence-guided behavior. An additional requirement for confidence representations to support metacognition is abstraction: they should emerge irrespective of the source of information and inform multiple confidence-guided behaviors. It is unknown whether neural confidence signals meet these criteria. Here, we show that single orbitofrontal cortex neurons in rats encode statistical decision confidence irrespective of the sensory modality, olfactory or auditory, used to make a choice. The activity of these neurons also predicts two confidence-guided behaviors: trial-by-trial time investment and cross-trial choice strategy updating. Orbitofrontal cortex thus represents decision confidence consistent with a metacognitive process that is useful for mediating confidence-guided economic decisions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paul Masset
- Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, 1 Bungtown Road, Cold Spring Harbor, NY 11724, USA; Watson School of Biological Sciences, 1 Bungtown Road, Cold Spring Harbor, NY 11724, USA
| | - Torben Ott
- Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, 1 Bungtown Road, Cold Spring Harbor, NY 11724, USA; Department of Neuroscience and Department of Psychiatry, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA
| | - Armin Lak
- Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PT, UK
| | - Junya Hirokawa
- Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, 1 Bungtown Road, Cold Spring Harbor, NY 11724, USA
| | - Adam Kepecs
- Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, 1 Bungtown Road, Cold Spring Harbor, NY 11724, USA; Watson School of Biological Sciences, 1 Bungtown Road, Cold Spring Harbor, NY 11724, USA; Department of Neuroscience and Department of Psychiatry, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA.
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41
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Human decisions about when to act originate within a basal forebrain-nigral circuit. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2020; 117:11799-11810. [PMID: 32385157 PMCID: PMC7260969 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1921211117] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Decision-making studies often focus on brain mechanisms for selecting between goals and actions; however, another important, and often neglected, aspect of decision-making in humans concerns whether, at any given point in time, it is worth making any action at all. We showed that a considerable portion of the variance in when voluntary actions are emitted can be explained by a simple model that that takes into account key features of the current environment. By using ultrahigh-field MRI we identified a multilayered circuit in the human brain originating far beyond the medial frontal areas typically linked to human voluntary action starting in the basal forebrain and brain stem, converging in the dopaminergic midbrain, and only then projecting to striatum and cortex. Decisions about when to act are critical for survival in humans as in animals, but how a desire is translated into the decision that an action is worth taking at any particular point in time is incompletely understood. Here we show that a simple model developed to explain when animals decide it is worth taking an action also explains a significant portion of the variance in timing observed when humans take voluntary actions. The model focuses on the current environment’s potential for reward, the timing of the individual’s own recent actions, and the outcomes of those actions. We show, by using ultrahigh-field MRI scanning, that in addition to anterior cingulate cortex within medial frontal cortex, a group of subcortical structures including striatum, substantia nigra, basal forebrain (BF), pedunculopontine nucleus (PPN), and habenula (HB) encode trial-by-trial variation in action time. Further analysis of the activity patterns found in each area together with psychophysiological interaction analysis and structural equation modeling suggested a model in which BF integrates contextual information that will influence the decision about when to act and communicates this information, in parallel with PPN and HB influences, to nigrostriatal circuits. It is then in the nigrostriatal circuit that action initiation per se begins.
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42
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Khalighinejad N, Bongioanni A, Verhagen L, Folloni D, Attali D, Aubry JF, Sallet J, Rushworth MFS. A Basal Forebrain-Cingulate Circuit in Macaques Decides It Is Time to Act. Neuron 2019; 105:370-384.e8. [PMID: 31813653 PMCID: PMC6975166 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2019.10.030] [Citation(s) in RCA: 46] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/23/2019] [Revised: 10/02/2019] [Accepted: 10/22/2019] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
The medial frontal cortex has been linked to voluntary action, but an explanation of why decisions to act emerge at particular points in time has been lacking. We show that, in macaques, decisions about whether and when to act are predicted by a set of features defining the animal’s current and past context; for example, respectively, cues indicating the current average rate of reward and recent previous voluntary action decisions. We show that activity in two brain areas—the anterior cingulate cortex and basal forebrain—tracks these contextual factors and mediates their effects on behavior in distinct ways. We use focused transcranial ultrasound to selectively and effectively stimulate deep in the brain, even as deep as the basal forebrain, and demonstrate that alteration of activity in the two areas changes decisions about when to act. Likelihood and timing of voluntary action in macaques can be partially predicted Recent experience and present context influence when voluntary action occurs A basal forebrain-cingulate circuit mediated effects of these factors on behavior Stimulation of this circuit by ultrasound changed decisions about when to act
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Affiliation(s)
- Nima Khalighinejad
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3SR, UK.
| | - Alessandro Bongioanni
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3SR, UK
| | - Lennart Verhagen
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3SR, UK; Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen 6525 XZ, the Netherlands
| | - Davide Folloni
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3SR, UK
| | - David Attali
- Physics for Medicine Paris, INSERM U1273, ESPCI Paris, CNRS FRE 2031, PSL Research University, Paris 75012, France; Pathophysiology of Psychiatric Disorders Laboratory, Inserm U1266, Institute of Psychiatry and Neuroscience of Paris, Paris Descartes University, Paris University, Paris 75014, France; Service Hospitalo-Universitaire, Sainte-Anne Hospital, UGH Paris Psychiatry and Neurosciences, Paris 75014, France
| | - Jean-Francois Aubry
- Physics for Medicine Paris, INSERM U1273, ESPCI Paris, CNRS FRE 2031, PSL Research University, Paris 75012, France
| | - Jerome Sallet
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3SR, UK
| | - Matthew F S Rushworth
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3SR, UK
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Stolyarova A, Rakhshan M, Hart EE, O'Dell TJ, Peters MAK, Lau H, Soltani A, Izquierdo A. Contributions of anterior cingulate cortex and basolateral amygdala to decision confidence and learning under uncertainty. Nat Commun 2019; 10:4704. [PMID: 31624264 PMCID: PMC6797780 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-12725-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/19/2019] [Accepted: 09/23/2019] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
The subjective sense of certainty, or confidence, in ambiguous sensory cues can alter the interpretation of reward feedback and facilitate learning. We trained rats to report the orientation of ambiguous visual stimuli according to a spatial stimulus-response rule that must be learned. Following choice, rats could wait a self-timed delay for reward or initiate a new trial. Waiting times increase with discrimination accuracy, demonstrating that this measure can be used as a proxy for confidence. Chemogenetic silencing of BLA shortens waiting times overall whereas ACC inhibition renders waiting times insensitive to confidence-modulating attributes of visual stimuli, suggesting contribution of ACC but not BLA to confidence computations. Subsequent reversal learning is enhanced by confidence. Both ACC and BLA inhibition block this enhancement but via differential adjustments in learning strategies and consistent use of learned rules. Altogether, we demonstrate dissociable roles for ACC and BLA in transmitting confidence and learning under uncertainty.
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Affiliation(s)
- A Stolyarova
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA
| | - M Rakhshan
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, 03755, USA
| | - E E Hart
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA
| | - T J O'Dell
- Department of Physiology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA
- The Brain Research Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA
| | - M A K Peters
- Department of Bioengineering, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA, 92521, USA
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA, 92521, USA
- Interdepartmental Graduate Program in Neuroscience, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA, 92521, USA
| | - H Lau
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA
- The Brain Research Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA
- Department of Psychology, The University of Hong Kong, Pok Fu Lam, Hong Kong
- State Key Laboratory for Brain and Cognitive Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Pok Fu Lam, Hong Kong
| | - A Soltani
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, 03755, USA.
| | - A Izquierdo
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA.
- The Brain Research Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA.
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44
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Keemink SW, Machens CK. Decoding and encoding (de)mixed population responses. Curr Opin Neurobiol 2019; 58:112-121. [PMID: 31563083 DOI: 10.1016/j.conb.2019.09.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2019] [Revised: 08/19/2019] [Accepted: 09/08/2019] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Abstract
A central tenet of neuroscience is that the brain works through large populations of interacting neurons. With recent advances in recording techniques, the inner working of these populations has come into full view. Analyzing the resulting large-scale data sets is challenging because of the often complex and 'mixed' dependency of neural activities on experimental parameters, such as stimuli, decisions, or motor responses. Here we review recent insights gained from analyzing these data with dimensionality reduction methods that 'demix' these dependencies. We demonstrate that the mappings from (carefully chosen) experimental parameters to population activities appear to be typical and stable across tasks, brain areas, and animals, and are often identifiable by linear methods. By considering when and why dimensionality reduction and demixing work well, we argue for a view of population coding in which populations represent (demixed) latent signals, corresponding to stimuli, decisions, motor responses, and so on. These latent signals are encoded into neural population activity via non-linear mappings and decoded via linear readouts. We explain how such a scheme can facilitate the propagation of information across cortical areas, and we review neural network architectures that can reproduce the encoding and decoding of latent signals in population activities. These architectures promise a link from the biophysics of single neurons to the activities of neural populations.
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45
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Whiteway MR, Butts DA. The quest for interpretable models of neural population activity. Curr Opin Neurobiol 2019; 58:86-93. [PMID: 31426024 DOI: 10.1016/j.conb.2019.07.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/03/2018] [Accepted: 07/14/2019] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
Many aspects of brain function arise from the coordinated activity of large populations of neurons. Recent developments in neural recording technologies are providing unprecedented access to the activity of such populations during increasingly complex experimental contexts; however, extracting scientific insights from such recordings requires the concurrent development of analytical tools that relate this population activity to system-level function. This is a primary motivation for latent variable models, which seek to provide a low-dimensional description of population activity that can be related to experimentally controlled variables, as well as uncontrolled variables such as internal states (e.g. attention and arousal) and elements of behavior. While deriving an understanding of function from traditional latent variable methods relies on low-dimensional visualizations, new approaches are targeting more interpretable descriptions of the components underlying system-level function.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew R Whiteway
- Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Jerome L Greene Science Center, Columbia University, 3227 Broadway, 5th Floor, Quad D, New York, NY 10027, USA
| | - Daniel A Butts
- Department of Biology and Program in Neuroscience and Cognitive Science, University of Maryland, 1210 Biology-Psychology Bldg. #144, College Park, MD 20742, USA.
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46
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Optogenetic and chemogenetic approaches to manipulate attention, impulsivity and behavioural flexibility in rodents. Behav Pharmacol 2019; 29:560-568. [PMID: 30169376 DOI: 10.1097/fbp.0000000000000425] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/20/2023]
Abstract
Studies manipulating neural activity acutely with optogenetic or chemogenetic intervention in behaving rodents have increased considerably in recent years. More often, these circuit-level neural manipulations are tested within an existing framework of behavioural testing that strives to model complex executive functions or symptomologies relevant to multidimensional psychiatric disorders in humans, such as attentional control deficits, impulsivity or behavioural (in)flexibility. This methods perspective argues in favour of carefully implementing these acute circuit-based approaches to better understand and model cognitive symptomologies or their similar isomorphic animal behaviours, which often arise and persist in overlapping brain circuitries. First, we offer some practical considerations for combining long-term, behavioural paradigms with optogenetic or chemogenetic interventions. Next, we examine how cell-type or projection-specific manipulations to the ascending neuromodulatory systems, local brain region or descending cortical glutamatergic projections influence aspects of cognitive control. For this, we primarily focus on the influence exerted on attentional and motor impulsivity performance in the (3-choice or) 5-choice serial reaction time task, and impulsive, risky or inflexible choice biases during alternative preference, reward discounting or reversal learning tasks.
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47
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Bari BA, Grossman CD, Lubin EE, Rajagopalan AE, Cressy JI, Cohen JY. Stable Representations of Decision Variables for Flexible Behavior. Neuron 2019; 103:922-933.e7. [PMID: 31280924 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2019.06.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 70] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/23/2018] [Revised: 05/03/2019] [Accepted: 05/31/2019] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
Abstract
Decisions occur in dynamic environments. In the framework of reinforcement learning, the probability of performing an action is influenced by decision variables. Discrepancies between predicted and obtained rewards (reward prediction errors) update these variables, but they are otherwise stable between decisions. Although reward prediction errors have been mapped to midbrain dopamine neurons, it is unclear how the brain represents decision variables themselves. We trained mice on a dynamic foraging task in which they chose between alternatives that delivered reward with changing probabilities. Neurons in the medial prefrontal cortex, including projections to the dorsomedial striatum, maintained persistent firing rate changes over long timescales. These changes stably represented relative action values (to bias choices) and total action values (to bias response times) with slow decay. In contrast, decision variables were weakly represented in the anterolateral motor cortex, a region necessary for generating choices. Thus, we define a stable neural mechanism to drive flexible behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bilal A Bari
- The Solomon H. Snyder Department of Neuroscience, Brain Science Institute, Kavli Neuroscience Discovery Institute, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
| | - Cooper D Grossman
- The Solomon H. Snyder Department of Neuroscience, Brain Science Institute, Kavli Neuroscience Discovery Institute, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
| | - Emily E Lubin
- The Solomon H. Snyder Department of Neuroscience, Brain Science Institute, Kavli Neuroscience Discovery Institute, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
| | - Adithya E Rajagopalan
- The Solomon H. Snyder Department of Neuroscience, Brain Science Institute, Kavli Neuroscience Discovery Institute, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
| | - Jianna I Cressy
- The Solomon H. Snyder Department of Neuroscience, Brain Science Institute, Kavli Neuroscience Discovery Institute, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
| | - Jeremiah Y Cohen
- The Solomon H. Snyder Department of Neuroscience, Brain Science Institute, Kavli Neuroscience Discovery Institute, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.
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49
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Short-Term Influence of Recent Trial History on Perceptual Choice Changes with Stimulus Strength. Neuroscience 2019; 409:1-15. [PMID: 30986438 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2019.04.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/16/2018] [Revised: 04/02/2019] [Accepted: 04/03/2019] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
Perceptual decisions, especially for difficult stimuli, can be influenced by choices and outcomes in previous trials. However, it is not well understood how stimulus strength modulates the temporal characteristics as well as the magnitude of trial history influence. We addressed this question using a contrast detection task in freely moving mice. We found that, at lower as compared to higher stimulus contrast, the current choice of the mice was more influenced by choices and outcomes in the past trials and the influence emerged from a longer history. To examine the neural basis of stimulus strength-dependent history influence, we recorded from the secondary motor cortex (M2), a prefrontal region that plays an important role in cue-guided actions and memory-guided behaviors. We found that more M2 neurons conveyed information about choices on the past two trials at lower than at higher contrast. Furthermore, history-trial activity in M2 was important for decoding upcoming choice at low contrast. Thus, trial history influence of perceptual choice is adaptive to the strength of sensory evidence, which may be important for action selection in a dynamic environment.
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50
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Errors in Action Timing and Inhibition Facilitate Learning by Tuning Distinct Mechanisms in the Underlying Decision Process. J Neurosci 2019; 39:2251-2264. [PMID: 30655353 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.1924-18.2019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/26/2018] [Revised: 11/06/2018] [Accepted: 01/06/2019] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Goal-directed behavior requires integrating action selection processes with learning systems that adapt control using environmental feedback. These functions are known to intersect at a common neural substrate with multiple known targets of plasticity (the cortico-basal ganglia-thalamic network), suggesting that feedback signals have a multifaceted impact on future decisions. Using a hybrid of accumulation-to-bound decision models and reinforcement learning, we modeled the performance of humans in a stop signal task where participants (N 75: 37 males, 38 females) learned the prior distribution of the timing of a stop signal through trial-and-error feedback. Changes in the drift rate of the action execution process were driven by errors in action timing, whereas adaptation in the boundary height served to increase caution following failed stops. These findings highlight two interactive learning mechanisms for adapting the control of goal-directed actions based on dissociable dimensions of feedback error.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Many complex behavioral goals rely on the ability to regulate the timing of action execution while also maintaining enough control to cancel actions in response to "Stop" cues in the environment. Here we examined how these fundamental components of behavior become tuned to the control demands of the environment by combining principles of reinforcement learning with accumulation-to-bound models. Model fits to behavioral data in an adaptive stop signal task revealed two adaptive mechanisms: (1) timing error-related changes in the rate of the execution signal; and (2) an increase in the execution boundary after failed stops. These findings demonstrate unique effects of timing and control errors on the underlying mechanisms of control, the rate and threshold of accumulating action signals.
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