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Ramamurthy DL, Rodriguez L, Cen C, Li S, Chen A, Feldman DE. Reward history guides focal attention in whisker somatosensory cortex. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.07.17.603927. [PMID: 39131281 PMCID: PMC11312476 DOI: 10.1101/2024.07.17.603927] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/13/2024]
Abstract
Prior reward is a potent cue for attentional capture, but the underlying neurobiology is largely unknown. In a novel whisker touch detection task, we show that mice flexibly shift attention between specific whiskers on a trial-by-trial timescale, guided by the recent history of stimulus-reward association. Two-photon calcium imaging and spike recordings revealed a robust neurobiological correlate of attention in the somatosensory cortex (S1), boosting sensory responses to the attended whisker in L2/3 and L5, but not L4. Attentional boosting in L2/3 pyramidal cells was topographically precise and whisker-specific, and shifted receptive fields toward the attended whisker. L2/3 VIP interneurons were broadly activated by whisker stimuli, motion, and arousal but did not carry a whisker-specific attentional signal, and thus did not mediate spatially focused tactile attention. Together, these findings establish a new model of focal attention in the mouse whisker tactile system, showing that the history of stimuli and rewards in the recent past can dynamically engage local modulation in cortical sensory maps to guide flexible shifts in ongoing behavior.
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2
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Hasegawa M, Huang Z, Paricio-Montesinos R, Gründemann J. Network state changes in sensory thalamus represent learned outcomes. Nat Commun 2024; 15:7830. [PMID: 39244616 PMCID: PMC11380690 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-51868-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/24/2023] [Accepted: 08/16/2024] [Indexed: 09/09/2024] Open
Abstract
Thalamic brain areas play an important role in adaptive behaviors. Nevertheless, the population dynamics of thalamic relays during learning across sensory modalities remain unknown. Using a cross-modal sensory reward-associative learning paradigm combined with deep brain two-photon calcium imaging of large populations of auditory thalamus (medial geniculate body, MGB) neurons in male mice, we identified that MGB neurons are biased towards reward predictors independent of modality. Additionally, functional classes of MGB neurons aligned with distinct task periods and behavioral outcomes, both dependent and independent of sensory modality. During non-sensory delay periods, MGB ensembles developed coherent neuronal representation as well as distinct co-activity network states reflecting predicted task outcome. These results demonstrate flexible cross-modal ensemble coding in auditory thalamus during adaptive learning and highlight its importance in brain-wide cross-modal computations during complex behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Masashi Hasegawa
- German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Neural Circuit Computations, Bonn, Germany
- Department of Biomedicine, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Ziyan Huang
- German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Neural Circuit Computations, Bonn, Germany
| | | | - Jan Gründemann
- German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Neural Circuit Computations, Bonn, Germany.
- Department of Biomedicine, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
- University of Bonn, Faculty of Medicine, Bonn, Germany.
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3
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Cole N, Harvey M, Myers-Joseph D, Gilra A, Khan AG. Prediction-error signals in anterior cingulate cortex drive task-switching. Nat Commun 2024; 15:7088. [PMID: 39154045 PMCID: PMC11330528 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-51368-9] [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: 04/30/2024] [Accepted: 08/05/2024] [Indexed: 08/19/2024] Open
Abstract
Task-switching is a fundamental cognitive ability that allows animals to update their knowledge of current rules or contexts. Detecting discrepancies between predicted and observed events is essential for this process. However, little is known about how the brain computes cognitive prediction-errors and whether neural prediction-error signals are causally related to task-switching behaviours. Here we trained mice to use a prediction-error to switch, in a single trial, between responding to the same stimuli using two distinct rules. Optogenetic silencing and un-silencing, together with widefield and two-photon calcium imaging revealed that the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) was specifically required for this rapid task-switching, but only when it exhibited neural prediction-error signals. These prediction-error signals were projection-target dependent and were larger preceding successful behavioural transitions. An all-optical approach revealed a disinhibitory interneuron circuit required for successful prediction-error computation. These results reveal a circuit mechanism for computing prediction-errors and transitioning between distinct cognitive states.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicholas Cole
- Centre for Developmental Neurobiology, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Matthew Harvey
- Centre for Developmental Neurobiology, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Dylan Myers-Joseph
- Centre for Developmental Neurobiology, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Aditya Gilra
- Machine Learning Group, Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
- Department of Computer Science, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK
| | - Adil G Khan
- Centre for Developmental Neurobiology, King's College London, London, UK.
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4
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Carroll AM, Pruitt DT, Riley JR, Danaphongse TT, Rennaker RL, Engineer CT, Hays SA, Kilgard MP. Vagus nerve stimulation during training fails to improve learning in healthy rats. Sci Rep 2024; 14:18955. [PMID: 39147873 PMCID: PMC11327266 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-69666-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/12/2024] [Accepted: 08/07/2024] [Indexed: 08/17/2024] Open
Abstract
Learning new skills requires neuroplasticity. Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) during sensory and motor events can increase neuroplasticity in networks related to these events and might therefore serve to facilitate learning on sensory and motor tasks. We tested if VNS could broadly improve learning on a wide variety of tasks across different skill domains in healthy, female adult rats. VNS was paired with presentation of stimuli or on successful trials during training, strategies known to facilitate plasticity and improve recovery in models of neurological disorders. VNS failed to improve either rate of learning or performance for any of the tested tasks, which included skilled forelimb motor control, speech sound discrimination, and paired-associates learning. These results contrast recent findings from multiple labs which found VNS pairing during training produced learning enhancements across motor, auditory, and cognitive domains. We speculate that these contrasting results may be explained by key differences in task designs, training timelines and animal handling approaches, and that while VNS may be able to facilitate rapid and early learning processes in healthy subjects, it does not broadly enhance learning for difficult tasks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alan M Carroll
- The University of Texas at Dallas, Texas Biomedical Device Center, 800 West Campbell Road, Richardson, TX, 75080-3021, USA.
- Department of Neuroscience, School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, The University of Texas at Dallas, 800 West Campbell Road, Richardson, TX, 75080-3021, USA.
| | - David T Pruitt
- The University of Texas at Dallas, Texas Biomedical Device Center, 800 West Campbell Road, Richardson, TX, 75080-3021, USA
- Department of Neuroscience, School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, The University of Texas at Dallas, 800 West Campbell Road, Richardson, TX, 75080-3021, USA
| | - Jonathan R Riley
- The University of Texas at Dallas, Texas Biomedical Device Center, 800 West Campbell Road, Richardson, TX, 75080-3021, USA
- Department of Neuroscience, School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, The University of Texas at Dallas, 800 West Campbell Road, Richardson, TX, 75080-3021, USA
| | - Tanya T Danaphongse
- The University of Texas at Dallas, Texas Biomedical Device Center, 800 West Campbell Road, Richardson, TX, 75080-3021, USA
| | - Robert L Rennaker
- The University of Texas at Dallas, Texas Biomedical Device Center, 800 West Campbell Road, Richardson, TX, 75080-3021, USA
- Department of Neuroscience, School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, The University of Texas at Dallas, 800 West Campbell Road, Richardson, TX, 75080-3021, USA
- Department of Bioengineering, Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science, The University of Texas at Dallas, 800 West Campbell Road, Richardson, TX, 75080-3021, USA
| | - Crystal T Engineer
- The University of Texas at Dallas, Texas Biomedical Device Center, 800 West Campbell Road, Richardson, TX, 75080-3021, USA
- Department of Neuroscience, School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, The University of Texas at Dallas, 800 West Campbell Road, Richardson, TX, 75080-3021, USA
| | - Seth A Hays
- The University of Texas at Dallas, Texas Biomedical Device Center, 800 West Campbell Road, Richardson, TX, 75080-3021, USA
- Department of Neuroscience, School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, The University of Texas at Dallas, 800 West Campbell Road, Richardson, TX, 75080-3021, USA
- Department of Bioengineering, Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science, The University of Texas at Dallas, 800 West Campbell Road, Richardson, TX, 75080-3021, USA
| | - Michael P Kilgard
- The University of Texas at Dallas, Texas Biomedical Device Center, 800 West Campbell Road, Richardson, TX, 75080-3021, USA
- Department of Neuroscience, School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, The University of Texas at Dallas, 800 West Campbell Road, Richardson, TX, 75080-3021, USA
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5
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Macedo-Lima M, Hamlette LS, Caras ML. Orbitofrontal cortex modulates auditory cortical sensitivity and sound perception in Mongolian gerbils. Curr Biol 2024; 34:3354-3366.e6. [PMID: 38996534 PMCID: PMC11303099 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2024.06.036] [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: 01/05/2024] [Revised: 04/25/2024] [Accepted: 06/12/2024] [Indexed: 07/14/2024]
Abstract
Sensory perception is dynamic, quickly adapting to sudden shifts in environmental or behavioral context. Although decades of work have established that these dynamics are mediated by rapid fluctuations in sensory cortical activity, we have a limited understanding of the brain regions and pathways that orchestrate these changes. Neurons in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) encode contextual information, and recent data suggest that some of these signals are transmitted to sensory cortices. Whether and how these signals shape sensory encoding and perceptual sensitivity remain uncertain. Here, we asked whether the OFC mediates context-dependent changes in auditory cortical sensitivity and sound perception by monitoring and manipulating OFC activity in freely moving Mongolian gerbils of both sexes under two behavioral contexts: passive sound exposure and engagement in an amplitude modulation (AM) detection task. We found that the majority of OFC neurons, including the specific subset that innervates the auditory cortex, were strongly modulated by task engagement. Pharmacological inactivation of the OFC prevented rapid context-dependent changes in auditory cortical firing and significantly impaired behavioral AM detection. Our findings suggest that contextual information from the OFC mediates rapid plasticity in the auditory cortex and facilitates the perception of behaviorally relevant sounds.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Melissa L Caras
- Department of Biology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA.
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6
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Mo C, McKinnon C, Murray Sherman S. A transthalamic pathway crucial for perception. Nat Commun 2024; 15:6300. [PMID: 39060240 PMCID: PMC11282105 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-50163-w] [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: 03/21/2024] [Accepted: 06/28/2024] [Indexed: 07/28/2024] Open
Abstract
Perception is largely supported by cortical processing that involves communication among multiple areas, typically starting with primary sensory cortex and then involving higher order cortices. This communication is served in part by transthalamic (cortico-thalamo-cortical) pathways, which ubiquitously parallel direct corticocortical pathways, but their role in sensory processing has largely remained unexplored. Here, we suggest that transthalamic processing propagates task-relevant information required for correct sensory decisions. Using optogenetics, we specifically inhibited the pathway at its synapse in higher order somatosensory thalamus of mice performing a texture-based discrimination task. We concurrently monitored the cellular effects of inhibition in primary or secondary cortex using two-photon calcium imaging. Inhibition severely impaired performance despite intact direct corticocortical projections, thus challenging the purely corticocentric map of perception. Interestingly, the inhibition did not reduce overall cell responsiveness to texture stimulation in somatosensory cortex, but rather disrupted the texture selectivity of cells, a discriminability that develops over task learning. This discriminability was more disrupted in the secondary than primary somatosensory cortex, emphasizing the feedforward influence of the transthalamic route. Transthalamic pathways may therefore act to deliver performance-relevant information to higher order cortex and are underappreciated hierarchical pathways in perceptual decision-making.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christina Mo
- The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
- Department of Neurobiology, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
| | - Claire McKinnon
- Department of Neurobiology, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA
| | - S Murray Sherman
- Department of Neurobiology, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
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7
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Chen W, Liang J, Wu Q, Han Y. Anterior cingulate cortex provides the neural substrates for feedback-driven iteration of decision and value representation. Nat Commun 2024; 15:6020. [PMID: 39019943 PMCID: PMC11255269 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-50388-9] [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: 02/12/2023] [Accepted: 07/05/2024] [Indexed: 07/19/2024] Open
Abstract
Adjusting decision-making under uncertain and dynamic situations is the hallmark of intelligence. It requires a system capable of converting feedback information to renew the internal value. The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) involves in error and reward events that prompt switching or maintenance of current decision strategies. However, it is unclear whether and how the changes of stimulus-action mapping during behavioral adaptation are encoded, nor how such computation drives decision adaptation. Here, we tracked ACC activity in male mice performing go/no-go auditory discrimination tasks with manipulated stimulus-reward contingencies. Individual ACC neurons integrate the outcome information to the value representation in the next-run trials. Dynamic recruitment of them determines the learning rate of error-guided value iteration and decision adaptation, forming a non-linear feedback-driven updating system to secure the appropriate decision switch. Optogenetically suppressing ACC significantly slowed down feedback-driven decision switching without interfering with the execution of the established strategy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wenqi Chen
- Department of Neurobiology, School of Basic Medicine, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430030, China
| | - Jiejunyi Liang
- State Key Laboratory of Intelligent Manufacturing Equipment and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074, China
| | - Qiyun Wu
- State Key Laboratory of Intelligent Manufacturing Equipment and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074, China
| | - Yunyun Han
- Department of Neurobiology, School of Basic Medicine, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430030, China.
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8
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Panniello M, Gillon CJ, Maffulli R, Celotto M, Richards BA, Panzeri S, Kohl MM. Stimulus information guides the emergence of behavior-related signals in primary somatosensory cortex during learning. Cell Rep 2024; 43:114244. [PMID: 38796851 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2024.114244] [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: 03/07/2023] [Revised: 01/16/2024] [Accepted: 05/02/2024] [Indexed: 05/29/2024] Open
Abstract
Neurons in the primary cortex carry sensory- and behavior-related information, but it remains an open question how this information emerges and intersects together during learning. Current evidence points to two possible learning-related changes: sensory information increases in the primary cortex or sensory information remains stable, but its readout efficiency in association cortices increases. We investigated this question by imaging neuronal activity in mouse primary somatosensory cortex before, during, and after learning of an object localization task. We quantified sensory- and behavior-related information and estimated how much sensory information was used to instruct perceptual choices as learning progressed. We find that sensory information increases from the start of training, while choice information is mostly present in the later stages of learning. Additionally, the readout of sensory information becomes more efficient with learning as early as in the primary sensory cortex. Together, our results highlight the importance of primary cortical neurons in perceptual learning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mariangela Panniello
- Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PT, UK; School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, UK; Optical Approaches to Brain Function Laboratory, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, 16163 Genova, Italy
| | - Colleen J Gillon
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, ON M1C 1A4, Canada; Department of Cell & Systems Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 3G5, Canada; Mila, Montréal, QC H2S 3H1, Canada
| | - Roberto Maffulli
- Neural Computation Laboratory, Center for Human Technologies, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, 16163 Genova, Italy
| | - Marco Celotto
- Neural Computation Laboratory, Center for Human Technologies, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, 16163 Genova, Italy; Institute of Neural Information Processing, Center for Molecular Neurobiology (ZMNH), University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), 20251 Hamburg, Germany; Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnology, University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy
| | - Blake A Richards
- Mila, Montréal, QC H2S 3H1, Canada; School of Computer Science, McGill University, Montréal, QC H3A 2A7, Canada; Department of Neurology & Neurosurgery, McGill University, Montréal, QC H3A 1A1, Canada; Learning in Machines and Brains Program, Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, Toronto, ON M5G 1M1, Canada; Montreal Neurological Institute, Montréal, QC H3A 2B4, Canada
| | - Stefano Panzeri
- Neural Computation Laboratory, Center for Human Technologies, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, 16163 Genova, Italy; Institute of Neural Information Processing, Center for Molecular Neurobiology (ZMNH), University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), 20251 Hamburg, Germany
| | - Michael M Kohl
- Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PT, UK; School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, UK.
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9
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Qiu L, Qiu Y, Liao J, Li J, Zhang X, Chen K, Huang Q, Huang R. Functional specialization of medial and lateral orbitofrontal cortex in inferential decision-making. iScience 2024; 27:110007. [PMID: 38868183 PMCID: PMC11167445 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2024.110007] [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: 08/20/2023] [Revised: 02/03/2024] [Accepted: 05/14/2024] [Indexed: 06/14/2024] Open
Abstract
Inferring prospective outcomes and updating behavior are prerequisites for making flexible decisions in the changing world. These abilities are highly associated with the functions of the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) in humans and animals. The functional specialization of OFC subregions in decision-making has been established in animals. However, the understanding of how human OFC contributes to decision-making remains limited. Therefore, we studied this issue by examining the information representation and functional interactions of human OFC subregions during inference-based decision-making. We found that the medial OFC (mOFC) and lateral OFC (lOFC) collectively represented the inferred outcomes which, however, were context-general coding in the mOFC and context-specific in the lOFC. Furthermore, the mOFC-motor and lOFC-frontoparietal functional connectivity may indicate the motor execution of mOFC and the cognitive control of lOFC during behavioral updating. In conclusion, our findings support the dissociable functional roles of OFC subregions in decision-making.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lixin Qiu
- School of Psychology; Center for Studies of Psychological Application; Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences (South China Normal University), Ministry of Education; South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510631, China
| | - Yidan Qiu
- School of Psychology; Center for Studies of Psychological Application; Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences (South China Normal University), Ministry of Education; South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510631, China
| | - Jiajun Liao
- School of Psychology; Center for Studies of Psychological Application; Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences (South China Normal University), Ministry of Education; South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510631, China
| | - Jinhui Li
- School of Psychology; Center for Studies of Psychological Application; Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences (South China Normal University), Ministry of Education; South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510631, China
| | - Xiaoying Zhang
- School of Psychology; Center for Studies of Psychological Application; Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences (South China Normal University), Ministry of Education; South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510631, China
| | - Kemeng Chen
- School of Psychology; Center for Studies of Psychological Application; Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences (South China Normal University), Ministry of Education; South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510631, China
| | - Qinda Huang
- School of Psychology; Center for Studies of Psychological Application; Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences (South China Normal University), Ministry of Education; South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510631, China
| | - Ruiwang Huang
- School of Psychology; Center for Studies of Psychological Application; Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences (South China Normal University), Ministry of Education; South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510631, China
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10
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Piet A, Ponvert N, Ollerenshaw D, Garrett M, Groblewski PA, Olsen S, Koch C, Arkhipov A. Behavioral strategy shapes activation of the Vip-Sst disinhibitory circuit in visual cortex. Neuron 2024; 112:1876-1890.e4. [PMID: 38447579 PMCID: PMC11156560 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2024.02.008] [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: 05/31/2023] [Revised: 11/17/2023] [Accepted: 02/08/2024] [Indexed: 03/08/2024]
Abstract
In complex environments, animals can adopt diverse strategies to find rewards. How distinct strategies differentially engage brain circuits is not well understood. Here, we investigate this question, focusing on the cortical Vip-Sst disinhibitory circuit between vasoactive intestinal peptide-postive (Vip) interneurons and somatostatin-positive (Sst) interneurons. We characterize the behavioral strategies used by mice during a visual change detection task. Using a dynamic logistic regression model, we find that individual mice use mixtures of a visual comparison strategy and a statistical timing strategy. Separately, mice also have periods of task engagement and disengagement. Two-photon calcium imaging shows large strategy-dependent differences in neural activity in excitatory, Sst inhibitory, and Vip inhibitory cells in response to both image changes and image omissions. In contrast, task engagement has limited effects on neural population activity. We find that the diversity of neural correlates of strategy can be understood parsimoniously as the increased activation of the Vip-Sst disinhibitory circuit during the visual comparison strategy, which facilitates task-appropriate responses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alex Piet
- Allen Institute, Mindscope Program, Seattle, WA, USA.
| | - Nick Ponvert
- Allen Institute, Mindscope Program, Seattle, WA, USA
| | | | | | | | - Shawn Olsen
- Allen Institute, Mindscope Program, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Christof Koch
- Allen Institute, Mindscope Program, Seattle, WA, USA
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11
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Yoshinaga Y, Sato N. Reach-to-Grasp and tactile discrimination task: A new task for the study of sensory-motor learning. Behav Brain Res 2024; 466:115007. [PMID: 38648867 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2024.115007] [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: 01/30/2024] [Revised: 04/04/2024] [Accepted: 04/19/2024] [Indexed: 04/25/2024]
Abstract
Although active touch in rodents arises from the forepaws as well as whiskers, most research on active touch only focuses on whiskers. This results in a paucity of tasks designed to assess the process of active touch with a forepaw. We develop a new experimental task, the Reach-to-Grasp and Tactile Discrimination task (RGTD task), to examine active touch with a forepaw in rodents, particularly changes in processes of active touch during motor skill learning. In the RGTD task, animals are required to (1) extend their forelimb to an object, (2) grasp the object, and (3) manipulate the grasped object with the forelimb. The animals must determine the direction of the manipulation based on active touch sensations arising during the period of the grasping. In experiment 1 of the present study, we showed that rats can learn the RGTD task. In experiment 2, we confirmed that the rats are capable of reversal learning of the RGTD task. The RGTD task shared most of the reaching movements involved with conventional forelimb reaching tasks. From the standpoint of a discrimination task, the RGTD task enables rigorous experimental control, for example by removing bias in the stimulus-response correspondence, and makes it possible to utilize diverse experimental procedures that have been difficult in prior tasks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yudai Yoshinaga
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Kwansei Gakuin University, 1-1-155, Uegahara, Nishinomiya, Hyogo 662-8501, Japan; Research Fellow of Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Japan
| | - Nobuya Sato
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Kwansei Gakuin University, 1-1-155, Uegahara, Nishinomiya, Hyogo 662-8501, Japan; Center for Applied Psychological Science (CAPS), Kwansei Gakuin University, 1-1-155, Uegahara, Nishinomiya, Hyogo, Japan.
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12
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Zhang Y, Zhang W, Wang L, Liu D, Xie T, Le Z, Li X, Gong H, Xu XH, Xu M, Yao H. Whole-brain Mapping of Inputs and Outputs of Specific Orbitofrontal Cortical Neurons in Mice. Neurosci Bull 2024:10.1007/s12264-024-01229-8. [PMID: 38801564 DOI: 10.1007/s12264-024-01229-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/02/2023] [Accepted: 12/16/2023] [Indexed: 05/29/2024] Open
Abstract
The orbitofrontal cortex (ORB), a region crucial for stimulus-reward association, decision-making, and flexible behaviors, extensively connects with other brain areas. However, brain-wide inputs to projection-defined ORB neurons and the distribution of inhibitory neurons postsynaptic to neurons in specific ORB subregions remain poorly characterized. Here we mapped the inputs of five types of projection-specific ORB neurons and ORB outputs to two types of inhibitory neurons. We found that different projection-defined ORB neurons received inputs from similar cortical and thalamic regions, albeit with quantitative variations, particularly in somatomotor areas and medial groups of the dorsal thalamus. By counting parvalbumin (PV) or somatostatin (SST) interneurons innervated by neurons in specific ORB subregions, we found a higher fraction of PV neurons in sensory cortices and a higher fraction of SST neurons in subcortical regions targeted by medial ORB neurons. These results provide insights into understanding and investigating the function of specific ORB neurons.
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Affiliation(s)
- 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
| | - Wen 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
| | - Lizhao Wang
- 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
| | - Dechen 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
| | - 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
| | - Ziwei Le
- 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
| | - Xiangning Li
- HUST-Suzhou Institute for Brainsmatics, JITRI, Suzhou, 215123, China
| | - Hui Gong
- HUST-Suzhou Institute for Brainsmatics, JITRI, Suzhou, 215123, China
- CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 200031, China
| | - Xiao-Hong Xu
- 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
| | - Min Xu
- 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
| | - 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.
- Key Laboratory of Brain Cognition and Brain-inspired Intelligence Technology, Shanghai, 200031, China.
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13
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Xie T, Adamek M, Cho H, Adamo MA, Ritaccio AL, Willie JT, Brunner P, Kubanek J. Graded decisions in the human brain. Nat Commun 2024; 15:4308. [PMID: 38773117 PMCID: PMC11109249 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-48342-w] [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: 05/30/2023] [Accepted: 04/26/2024] [Indexed: 05/23/2024] Open
Abstract
Decision-makers objectively commit to a definitive choice, yet at the subjective level, human decisions appear to be associated with a degree of uncertainty. Whether decisions are definitive (i.e., concluding in all-or-none choices), or whether the underlying representations are graded, remains unclear. To answer this question, we recorded intracranial neural signals directly from the brain while human subjects made perceptual decisions. The recordings revealed that broadband gamma activity reflecting each individual's decision-making process, ramped up gradually while being graded by the accumulated decision evidence. Crucially, this grading effect persisted throughout the decision process without ever reaching a definite bound at the time of choice. This effect was most prominent in the parietal cortex, a brain region traditionally implicated in decision-making. These results provide neural evidence for a graded decision process in humans and an analog framework for flexible choice behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tao Xie
- Department of Neurological Surgery, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, 63110, USA
- National Center for Adaptive Neurotechnologies, St. Louis, MO, 63110, USA
| | - Markus Adamek
- Department of Neurological Surgery, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, 63110, USA
- National Center for Adaptive Neurotechnologies, St. Louis, MO, 63110, USA
| | - Hohyun Cho
- Department of Neurological Surgery, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, 63110, USA
- National Center for Adaptive Neurotechnologies, St. Louis, MO, 63110, USA
| | - Matthew A Adamo
- Department of Neurosurgery, Albany Medical College, Albany, NY, 12208, USA
| | - Anthony L Ritaccio
- Department of Neurology, Albany Medical College, Albany, NY, 12208, USA
- Department of Neurology, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL, 32224, USA
| | - Jon T Willie
- Department of Neurological Surgery, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, 63110, USA
- National Center for Adaptive Neurotechnologies, St. Louis, MO, 63110, USA
| | - Peter Brunner
- Department of Neurological Surgery, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, 63110, USA.
- National Center for Adaptive Neurotechnologies, St. Louis, MO, 63110, USA.
- Department of Neurology, Albany Medical College, Albany, NY, 12208, USA.
| | - Jan Kubanek
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, 84112, USA.
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14
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Ben Shalom D, Skandalakis GP. Four Streams Within the Prefrontal Cortex: Integrating Structural and Functional Connectivity. Neuroscientist 2024:10738584241245304. [PMID: 38577969 DOI: 10.1177/10738584241245304] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/06/2024]
Abstract
Merging functional evidence derived from studies of autism spectrum disorder and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder converges in four neural streams of the prefrontal cortex, hence suggesting a model of information processing through four streams: motor through Brodmann area (BA) 8, emotion through BA 9, memory through BA 10, and emotional-related sensory through BA 11. A growing body of functional data has been supporting this model of information processing. Nevertheless, the underlying structural connectivity was only recently unveiled by a population-based high-definition tractography study with data from 1,065 individuals. This update provides a brief overview of recent evidence supporting the anatomofunctional integration of the four streams of the prefrontal cortex and reviews the white matter fiber tracts subserving the four streams.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dorit Ben Shalom
- School of Brain Sciences and Cognition, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beersheba, Israel
| | - Georgios P Skandalakis
- Section of Neurosurgery, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon, NH, USA
- Department of Neurosurgery, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens Medical School, Evangelismos General Hospital, Athens, Greece
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15
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Maggi S, Hock RM, O'Neill M, Buckley M, Moran PM, Bast T, Sami M, Humphries MD. Tracking subjects' strategies in behavioural choice experiments at trial resolution. eLife 2024; 13:e86491. [PMID: 38426402 PMCID: PMC10959529 DOI: 10.7554/elife.86491] [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: 01/29/2023] [Accepted: 02/23/2024] [Indexed: 03/02/2024] Open
Abstract
Investigating how, when, and what subjects learn during decision-making tasks requires tracking their choice strategies on a trial-by-trial basis. Here, we present a simple but effective probabilistic approach to tracking choice strategies at trial resolution using Bayesian evidence accumulation. We show this approach identifies both successful learning and the exploratory strategies used in decision tasks performed by humans, non-human primates, rats, and synthetic agents. Both when subjects learn and when rules change the exploratory strategies of win-stay and lose-shift, often considered complementary, are consistently used independently. Indeed, we find the use of lose-shift is strong evidence that subjects have latently learnt the salient features of a new rewarded rule. Our approach can be extended to any discrete choice strategy, and its low computational cost is ideally suited for real-time analysis and closed-loop control.
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Affiliation(s)
- Silvia Maggi
- School of Psychology, University of NottinghamNottinghamUnited Kingdom
| | - Rebecca M Hock
- School of Psychology, University of NottinghamNottinghamUnited Kingdom
| | - Martin O'Neill
- School of Psychology, University of NottinghamNottinghamUnited Kingdom
- Department of Health & Nutritional Sciences, Atlantic Technological UniversitySligoIreland
| | - Mark Buckley
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of OxfordOxfordUnited Kingdom
| | - Paula M Moran
- School of Psychology, University of NottinghamNottinghamUnited Kingdom
- Department of Neuroscience, University of NottinghamNottinghamUnited Kingdom
| | - Tobias Bast
- School of Psychology, University of NottinghamNottinghamUnited Kingdom
- Department of Neuroscience, University of NottinghamNottinghamUnited Kingdom
| | - Musa Sami
- Institute of Mental Health, University of NottinghamNottinghamUnited Kingdom
| | - Mark D Humphries
- School of Psychology, University of NottinghamNottinghamUnited Kingdom
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16
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Polanía R, Burdakov D, Hare TA. Rationality, preferences, and emotions with biological constraints: it all starts from our senses. Trends Cogn Sci 2024; 28:264-277. [PMID: 38341322 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2024.01.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/28/2022] [Revised: 01/10/2024] [Accepted: 01/11/2024] [Indexed: 02/12/2024]
Abstract
Is the role of our sensory systems to represent the physical world as accurately as possible? If so, are our preferences and emotions, often deemed irrational, decoupled from these 'ground-truth' sensory experiences? We show why the answer to both questions is 'no'. Brain function is metabolically costly, and the brain loses some fraction of the information that it encodes and transmits. Therefore, if brains maximize objective functions that increase the fitness of their species, they should adapt to the objective-maximizing rules of the environment at the earliest stages of sensory processing. Consequently, observed 'irrationalities', preferences, and emotions stem from the necessity for our early sensory systems to adapt and process information while considering the metabolic costs and internal states of the organism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rafael Polanía
- Decision Neuroscience Laboratory, Department of Health Sciences and Technology, ETH, Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
| | - Denis Burdakov
- Neurobehavioral Dynamics Laboratory, Department of Health Sciences and Technology, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Todd A Hare
- Zurich Center for Neuroeconomics, Department of Economics, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
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17
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Sladky R, Kargl D, Haubensak W, Lamm C. An active inference perspective for the amygdala complex. Trends Cogn Sci 2024; 28:223-236. [PMID: 38103984 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2023.11.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/30/2023] [Revised: 11/14/2023] [Accepted: 11/16/2023] [Indexed: 12/19/2023]
Abstract
The amygdala is a heterogeneous network of subcortical nuclei with central importance in cognitive and clinical neuroscience. Various experimental designs in human psychology and animal model research have mapped multiple conceptual frameworks (e.g., valence/salience and decision making) to ever more refined amygdala circuitry. However, these predominantly bottom up-driven accounts often rely on interpretations tailored to a specific phenomenon, thus preventing comprehensive and integrative theories. We argue here that an active inference model of amygdala function could unify these fractionated approaches into an overarching framework for clearer empirical predictions and mechanistic interpretations. This framework embeds top-down predictive models, informed by prior knowledge and belief updating, within a dynamical system distributed across amygdala circuits in which self-regulation is implemented by continuously tracking environmental and homeostatic demands.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ronald Sladky
- Social, Cognitive, and Affective Neuroscience Unit, Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Liebiggasse 5, 1010 Vienna, Austria; Vienna Cognitive Science Hub, University of Vienna, 1010 Vienna, Austria.
| | - Dominic Kargl
- Department of Neuronal Cell Biology, Center for Brain Research, Medical University of Vienna, Spitalgasse 4, 1090 Vienna, Austria
| | - Wulf Haubensak
- Department of Neuronal Cell Biology, Center for Brain Research, Medical University of Vienna, Spitalgasse 4, 1090 Vienna, Austria; Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP), Vienna Biocenter (VBC), Campus Vienna Biocenter 1, 1030 Vienna, Austria
| | - Claus Lamm
- Social, Cognitive, and Affective Neuroscience Unit, Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Liebiggasse 5, 1010 Vienna, Austria; Vienna Cognitive Science Hub, University of Vienna, 1010 Vienna, Austria
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18
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Milicevic KD, Barbeau BL, Lovic DD, Patel AA, Ivanova VO, Antic SD. Physiological features of parvalbumin-expressing GABAergic interneurons contributing to high-frequency oscillations in the cerebral cortex. CURRENT RESEARCH IN NEUROBIOLOGY 2023; 6:100121. [PMID: 38616956 PMCID: PMC11015061 DOI: 10.1016/j.crneur.2023.100121] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/28/2023] [Revised: 11/13/2023] [Accepted: 12/01/2023] [Indexed: 04/16/2024] Open
Abstract
Parvalbumin-expressing (PV+) inhibitory interneurons drive gamma oscillations (30-80 Hz), which underlie higher cognitive functions. In this review, we discuss two groups/aspects of fundamental properties of PV+ interneurons. In the first group (dubbed Before Axon), we list properties representing optimal synaptic integration in PV+ interneurons designed to support fast oscillations. For example: [i] Information can neither enter nor leave the neocortex without the engagement of fast PV+ -mediated inhibition; [ii] Voltage responses in PV+ interneuron dendrites integrate linearly to reduce impact of the fluctuations in the afferent drive; and [iii] Reversed somatodendritic Rm gradient accelerates the time courses of synaptic potentials arriving at the soma. In the second group (dubbed After Axon), we list morphological and biophysical properties responsible for (a) short synaptic delays, and (b) efficient postsynaptic outcomes. For example: [i] Fast-spiking ability that allows PV+ interneurons to outpace other cortical neurons (pyramidal neurons). [ii] Myelinated axon (which is only found in the PV+ subclass of interneurons) to secure fast-spiking at the initial axon segment; and [iii] Inhibitory autapses - autoinhibition, which assures brief biphasic voltage transients and supports postinhibitory rebounds. Recent advent of scientific tools, such as viral strategies to target PV cells and the ability to monitor PV cells via in vivo imaging during behavior, will aid in defining the role of PV cells in the CNS. Given the link between PV+ interneurons and cognition, in the future, it would be useful to carry out physiological recordings in the PV+ cell type selectively and characterize if and how psychiatric and neurological diseases affect initiation and propagation of electrical signals in this cortical sub-circuit. Voltage imaging may allow fast recordings of electrical signals from many PV+ interneurons simultaneously.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katarina D. Milicevic
- University of Connecticut Health, School of Medicine, Institute for Systems Genomics, Farmington, CT, 06030, USA
- University of Belgrade, Faculty of Biology, Center for Laser Microscopy, Belgrade, 11000, Serbia
| | - Brianna L. Barbeau
- University of Connecticut Health, School of Medicine, Institute for Systems Genomics, Farmington, CT, 06030, USA
| | - Darko D. Lovic
- University of Connecticut Health, School of Medicine, Institute for Systems Genomics, Farmington, CT, 06030, USA
- University of Belgrade, Faculty of Biology, Center for Laser Microscopy, Belgrade, 11000, Serbia
| | - Aayushi A. Patel
- University of Connecticut Health, School of Medicine, Institute for Systems Genomics, Farmington, CT, 06030, USA
| | - Violetta O. Ivanova
- University of Connecticut Health, School of Medicine, Institute for Systems Genomics, Farmington, CT, 06030, USA
| | - Srdjan D. Antic
- University of Connecticut Health, School of Medicine, Institute for Systems Genomics, Farmington, CT, 06030, USA
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19
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Hattori R, Hedrick NG, Jain A, Chen S, You H, Hattori M, Choi JH, Lim BK, Yasuda R, Komiyama T. Meta-reinforcement learning via orbitofrontal cortex. Nat Neurosci 2023; 26:2182-2191. [PMID: 37957318 PMCID: PMC10689244 DOI: 10.1038/s41593-023-01485-3] [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: 03/24/2023] [Accepted: 10/06/2023] [Indexed: 11/15/2023]
Abstract
The meta-reinforcement learning (meta-RL) framework, which involves RL over multiple timescales, has been successful in training deep RL models that generalize to new environments. It has been hypothesized that the prefrontal cortex may mediate meta-RL in the brain, but the evidence is scarce. Here we show that the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) mediates meta-RL. We trained mice and deep RL models on a probabilistic reversal learning task across sessions during which they improved their trial-by-trial RL policy through meta-learning. Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II-dependent synaptic plasticity in OFC was necessary for this meta-learning but not for the within-session trial-by-trial RL in experts. After meta-learning, OFC activity robustly encoded value signals, and OFC inactivation impaired the RL behaviors. Longitudinal tracking of OFC activity revealed that meta-learning gradually shapes population value coding to guide the ongoing behavioral policy. Our results indicate that two distinct RL algorithms with distinct neural mechanisms and timescales coexist in OFC to support adaptive decision-making.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ryoma Hattori
- Department of Neurobiology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
- Center for Neural Circuits and Behavior, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
- Department of Neurosciences, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
- Halıcıoğlu Data Science Institute, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
- Department of Neuroscience, The Herbert Wertheim UF Scripps Institute for Biomedical Innovation & Technology, University of Florida, Jupiter, FL, USA.
| | - Nathan G Hedrick
- Department of Neurobiology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
- Center for Neural Circuits and Behavior, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
- Department of Neurosciences, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
- Halıcıoğlu Data Science Institute, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Anant Jain
- Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience, Jupiter, FL, USA
| | - Shuqi Chen
- Department of Neurobiology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
- Center for Neural Circuits and Behavior, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
- Department of Neurosciences, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
- Halıcıoğlu Data Science Institute, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Hanjia You
- Department of Neurobiology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
- Center for Neural Circuits and Behavior, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
- Department of Neurosciences, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
- Halıcıoğlu Data Science Institute, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Mariko Hattori
- Department of Neurobiology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
- Center for Neural Circuits and Behavior, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
- Department of Neurosciences, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
- Halıcıoğlu Data Science Institute, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Jun-Hyeok Choi
- Department of Neurobiology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Byung Kook Lim
- Department of Neurobiology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Ryohei Yasuda
- Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience, Jupiter, FL, USA
| | - Takaki Komiyama
- Department of Neurobiology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
- Center for Neural Circuits and Behavior, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
- Department of Neurosciences, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
- Halıcıoğlu Data Science Institute, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
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20
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Oyama K, Majima K, Nagai Y, Hori Y, Hirabayashi T, Eldridge MAG, Mimura K, Miyakawa N, Fujimoto A, Hori Y, Iwaoki H, Inoue KI, Saunders RC, Takada M, Yahata N, Higuchi M, Richmond BJ, Minamimoto T. Distinct roles of monkey OFC-subcortical pathways in adaptive behavior. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.11.17.567492. [PMID: 38076986 PMCID: PMC10705585 DOI: 10.1101/2023.11.17.567492] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/22/2023]
Abstract
To be the most successful, primates must adapt to changing environments and optimize their behavior by making the most beneficial choices. At the core of adaptive behavior is the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) of the brain, which updates choice value through direct experience or knowledge-based inference. Here, we identify distinct neural circuitry underlying these two separate abilities. We designed two behavioral tasks in which macaque monkeys updated the values of certain items, either by directly experiencing changes in stimulus-reward associations, or by inferring the value of unexperienced items based on the task's rules. Chemogenetic silencing of bilateral OFC combined with mathematical model-fitting analysis revealed that monkey OFC is involved in updating item value based on both experience and inference. In vivo imaging of chemogenetic receptors by positron emission tomography allowed us to map projections from the OFC to the rostromedial caudate nucleus (rmCD) and the medial part of the mediodorsal thalamus (MDm). Chemogenetic silencing of the OFC-rmCD pathway impaired experience-based value updating, while silencing the OFC-MDm pathway impaired inference-based value updating. Our results thus demonstrate a dissociable contribution of distinct OFC projections to different behavioral strategies, and provide new insights into the neural basis of value-based adaptive decision-making in primates.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kei Oyama
- Department of Functional Brain Imaging, National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology, Chiba, Japan
- PRESTO, Japan Science and Technology Agency, Kawaguchi, Japan
| | - Kei Majima
- Institute for Quantum Life Science, National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology, Chiba, Japan
- PRESTO, Japan Science and Technology Agency, Kawaguchi, Japan
| | - Yuji Nagai
- Department of Functional Brain Imaging, National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology, Chiba, Japan
| | - Yukiko Hori
- Department of Functional Brain Imaging, National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology, Chiba, Japan
| | - Toshiyuki Hirabayashi
- Department of Functional Brain Imaging, National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology, Chiba, Japan
| | - Mark A G Eldridge
- Laboratory of Neuropsychology, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, USA
| | - Koki Mimura
- Department of Functional Brain Imaging, National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology, Chiba, Japan
- Research Center for Medical and Health Data Science, The Institute of Statistical Mathematics, Tachikawa, Japan
| | - Naohisa Miyakawa
- Department of Functional Brain Imaging, National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology, Chiba, Japan
| | - Atsushi Fujimoto
- Department of Functional Brain Imaging, National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology, Chiba, Japan
| | - Yuki Hori
- Department of Functional Brain Imaging, National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology, Chiba, Japan
| | - Haruhiko Iwaoki
- Department of Functional Brain Imaging, National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology, Chiba, Japan
| | - Ken-Ichi Inoue
- Systems Neuroscience Section, Center for the Evolutionary Origins of Human Behavior, Kyoto University, Inuyama, Japan
| | - Richard C Saunders
- Laboratory of Neuropsychology, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, USA
| | - Masahiko Takada
- Systems Neuroscience Section, Center for the Evolutionary Origins of Human Behavior, Kyoto University, Inuyama, Japan
| | - Noriaki Yahata
- Institute for Quantum Life Science, National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology, Chiba, Japan
| | - Makoto Higuchi
- Department of Functional Brain Imaging, National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology, Chiba, Japan
| | - Barry J Richmond
- Laboratory of Neuropsychology, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, USA
| | - Takafumi Minamimoto
- Department of Functional Brain Imaging, National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology, Chiba, Japan
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21
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Marmor O, Pollak Y, Doron C, Helmchen F, Gilad A. History information emerges in the cortex during learning. eLife 2023; 12:e83702. [PMID: 37921842 PMCID: PMC10624423 DOI: 10.7554/elife.83702] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/25/2022] [Accepted: 10/23/2023] [Indexed: 11/04/2023] Open
Abstract
We learn from our experience but the underlying neuronal mechanisms incorporating past information to facilitate learning is relatively unknown. Specifically, which cortical areas encode history-related information and how is this information modulated across learning? To study the relationship between history and learning, we continuously imaged cortex-wide calcium dynamics as mice learn to use their whiskers to discriminate between two different textures. We mainly focused on comparing the same trial type with different trial history, that is, a different preceding trial. We found trial history information in barrel cortex (BC) during stimulus presentation. Importantly, trial history in BC emerged only as the mouse learned the task. Next, we also found learning-dependent trial history information in rostrolateral (RL) association cortex that emerges before stimulus presentation, preceding activity in BC. Trial history was also encoded in other cortical areas and was not related to differences in body movements. Interestingly, a binary classifier could discriminate trial history at the single trial level just as well as current information both in BC and RL. These findings suggest that past experience emerges in the cortex around the time of learning, starting from higher-order association area RL and propagating down (i.e., top-down projection) to lower-order BC where it can be integrated with incoming sensory information. This integration between the past and present may facilitate learning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Odeya Marmor
- Department of Medical Neurobiology, Faculty of Medicine, The Institute for Medical Research Israel-Canada (IMRIC), The Hebrew University of JerusalemJerusalemIsrael
| | - Yael Pollak
- Department of Medical Neurobiology, Faculty of Medicine, The Institute for Medical Research Israel-Canada (IMRIC), The Hebrew University of JerusalemJerusalemIsrael
| | - Chen Doron
- Department of Medical Neurobiology, Faculty of Medicine, The Institute for Medical Research Israel-Canada (IMRIC), The Hebrew University of JerusalemJerusalemIsrael
| | - Fritjof Helmchen
- Brain Research Institute, University of ZurichZurichSwitzerland
- Neuroscience Center ZurichZurichSwitzerland
| | - Ariel Gilad
- Department of Medical Neurobiology, Faculty of Medicine, The Institute for Medical Research Israel-Canada (IMRIC), The Hebrew University of JerusalemJerusalemIsrael
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22
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Agetsuma M, Sato I, Tanaka YR, Carrillo-Reid L, Kasai A, Noritake A, Arai Y, Yoshitomo M, Inagaki T, Yukawa H, Hashimoto H, Nabekura J, Nagai T. Activity-dependent organization of prefrontal hub-networks for associative learning and signal transformation. Nat Commun 2023; 14:5996. [PMID: 37803014 PMCID: PMC10558457 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-41547-5] [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: 06/18/2022] [Accepted: 09/08/2023] [Indexed: 10/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Associative learning is crucial for adapting to environmental changes. Interactions among neuronal populations involving the dorso-medial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) are proposed to regulate associative learning, but how these neuronal populations store and process information about the association remains unclear. Here we developed a pipeline for longitudinal two-photon imaging and computational dissection of neural population activities in male mouse dmPFC during fear-conditioning procedures, enabling us to detect learning-dependent changes in the dmPFC network topology. Using regularized regression methods and graphical modeling, we found that fear conditioning drove dmPFC reorganization to generate a neuronal ensemble encoding conditioned responses (CR) characterized by enhanced internal coactivity, functional connectivity, and association with conditioned stimuli (CS). Importantly, neurons strongly responding to unconditioned stimuli during conditioning subsequently became hubs of this novel associative network for the CS-to-CR transformation. Altogether, we demonstrate learning-dependent dynamic modulation of population coding structured on the activity-dependent formation of the hub network within the dmPFC.
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Grants
- MEXT | Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS)
- This study was supported by the Japan Science and Technology Agency, PRESTO (to M.A.), JSPS KAKENHI Grant (grant number JP18K06536, JP18H05144, JP20H05076, JP21H02801, JP22H05081, JP22H05519 to M.A.; JP20H03357, JP20H05073, JP21K18563 to Y.R.T.; JP20H05065, JP22H05080 to A.K.; JP22H05081 to A.N.), JSPS Bilateral Program (JPJSBP1-20199901 to M.A.), AMED (grant number JP19dm0207086 to M.A.; JP21dm0207117 to H.H.), the grant of Joint Research by the National Institutes of Natural Sciences (NINS program No 01112008 and 01112106 to M.A.), and grants from Brain Science Foundation and Shimadzu Foundation to M.A. and the Takeda Science Foundation to A.K. and H.H. Authors declare that they have no competing interests.
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Affiliation(s)
- Masakazu Agetsuma
- Division of Homeostatic Development, National Institute for Physiological Sciences, 38 Nishigohnaka Myodaiji-cho, Okazaki, Aichi, 444-8585, Japan.
- Japan Science and Technology Agency, PRESTO, 4-1-8 Honcho, Kawaguchi, Saitama, 332-0012, Japan.
- SANKEN (The Institute of Scientific and Industrial Research), Osaka University, Mihogaoka 8-1, Ibaraki, Osaka, 567-0047, Japan.
- Division of Molecular Design, Research Center for Systems Immunology, Medical Institute of Bioregulation, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka, 812-8582, Japan.
- Quantum Regenerative and Biomedical Engineering Team, Institute for Quantum Life Science, National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology (QST), Anagawa 4-9-1, Chiba Inage-ku, Chiba, 263-8555, Japan.
| | - Issei Sato
- Department of Computer Science, Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-0033, Japan
| | - Yasuhiro R Tanaka
- Brain Science Institute, Tamagawa University, 6-1-1 Tamagawagakuen, Machida, Tokyo, 194-8610, Japan
| | - Luis Carrillo-Reid
- Instituto de Neurobiologia, National Autonomous University of Mexico, Boulevard Juriquilla 3001, Juriquilla, Queretaro, CP, 76230, Mexico
| | - Atsushi Kasai
- Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Osaka University, Yamadaoka 1-6, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan
| | - Atsushi Noritake
- Division of Behavioral Development, National Institute for Physiological Sciences, 38 Nishigohnaka Myodaiji-cho, Okazaki, Aichi, 444-8585, Japan
| | - Yoshiyuki Arai
- SANKEN (The Institute of Scientific and Industrial Research), Osaka University, Mihogaoka 8-1, Ibaraki, Osaka, 567-0047, Japan
| | - Miki Yoshitomo
- Division of Homeostatic Development, National Institute for Physiological Sciences, 38 Nishigohnaka Myodaiji-cho, Okazaki, Aichi, 444-8585, Japan
| | - Takashi Inagaki
- Division of Homeostatic Development, National Institute for Physiological Sciences, 38 Nishigohnaka Myodaiji-cho, Okazaki, Aichi, 444-8585, Japan
| | - Hiroshi Yukawa
- Quantum Regenerative and Biomedical Engineering Team, Institute for Quantum Life Science, National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology (QST), Anagawa 4-9-1, Chiba Inage-ku, Chiba, 263-8555, Japan
- Institute of Nano-Life-Systems, Institutes of Innovation for Future Society Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, 464-8603, Japan
| | - Hitoshi Hashimoto
- Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Osaka University, Yamadaoka 1-6, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan
- United Graduate School of Child Development, Osaka University, Kanazawa University, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Chiba University, and University of Fukui, 2-2 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan
- Division of Bioscience, Institute for Datability Science, Osaka University, 1-8 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan
- Open and Transdisciplinary Research Initiatives, Osaka University, 2-1 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan
- Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, 2-2 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan
| | - Junichi Nabekura
- Division of Homeostatic Development, National Institute for Physiological Sciences, 38 Nishigohnaka Myodaiji-cho, Okazaki, Aichi, 444-8585, Japan
| | - Takeharu Nagai
- SANKEN (The Institute of Scientific and Industrial Research), Osaka University, Mihogaoka 8-1, Ibaraki, Osaka, 567-0047, Japan
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23
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Kimura R. Flexible information representation to stabilize sensory perception despite minor external input variations. Neurosci Res 2023; 195:1-8. [PMID: 37236268 DOI: 10.1016/j.neures.2023.05.002] [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: 02/06/2023] [Revised: 05/14/2023] [Accepted: 05/18/2023] [Indexed: 05/28/2023]
Abstract
Sensory information about the environment constantly changes or varies depending on circumstances. However, once we repeatedly experience objects, our brain can perceive and recognize them as identical, even if they are slightly altered or include some diversity. We can stably perceive things without interference from minor external changes or variety. Our recent study focusing on visual perception showed that repeatedly viewing the same oriented grating stimuli enables information representation for low-contrast (or weak-intensity) orientations in the primary visual cortex. We observed low contrast-preferring neurons, whose firing rates increased by reducing the luminance contrast. The number of such neurons increased after the experience, and the neuronal population, including such neurons, can represent even low-contrast orientations. This study indicated that experience leads to flexible information representations that continuously respond to inputs of various strengths at the neuronal population level in the primary sensory cortex. In this perspective article, in addition to the above mechanism, I would discuss alternative mechanisms for perceptual stabilization. The primary sensory cortex represents external information faithfully without alterations, as well as in a state distorted by experience. Both sensory representations may cooperatively and dynamically affect hierarchical downstream, resulting in stable perception.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rie Kimura
- International Research Center for Neurointelligence, The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan.
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24
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Ying R, Hamlette L, Nikoobakht L, Balaji R, Miko N, Caras ML. Organization of orbitofrontal-auditory pathways in the Mongolian gerbil. J Comp Neurol 2023; 531:1459-1481. [PMID: 37477903 PMCID: PMC10529810 DOI: 10.1002/cne.25525] [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: 04/25/2023] [Revised: 06/11/2023] [Accepted: 06/26/2023] [Indexed: 07/22/2023]
Abstract
Sound perception is highly malleable, rapidly adjusting to the acoustic environment and behavioral demands. This flexibility is the result of ongoing changes in auditory cortical activity driven by fluctuations in attention, arousal, or prior expectations. Recent work suggests that the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) may mediate some of these rapid changes, but the anatomical connections between the OFC and the auditory system are not well characterized. Here, we used virally mediated fluorescent tracers to map the projection from OFC to the auditory midbrain, thalamus, and cortex in a classic animal model for auditory research, the Mongolian gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus). We observed no connectivity between the OFC and the auditory midbrain, and an extremely sparse connection between the dorsolateral OFC and higher order auditory thalamic regions. In contrast, we observed a robust connection between the ventral and medial subdivisions of the OFC and the auditory cortex, with a clear bias for secondary auditory cortical regions. OFC axon terminals were found in all auditory cortical lamina but were significantly more concentrated in the infragranular layers. Tissue-clearing and lightsheet microscopy further revealed that auditory cortical-projecting OFC neurons send extensive axon collaterals throughout the brain, targeting both sensory and non-sensory regions involved in learning, decision-making, and memory. These findings provide a more detailed map of orbitofrontal-auditory connections and shed light on the possible role of the OFC in supporting auditory cognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rose Ying
- Neuroscience and Cognitive Science Program, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, 20742
- Department of Biology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, 20742
- Center for Comparative and Evolutionary Biology of Hearing, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, 20742
| | - Lashaka Hamlette
- Department of Biology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, 20742
| | - Laudan Nikoobakht
- Department of Biology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, 20742
| | - Rakshita Balaji
- Department of Biology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, 20742
| | - Nicole Miko
- Department of Biology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, 20742
| | - Melissa L. Caras
- Neuroscience and Cognitive Science Program, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, 20742
- Department of Biology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, 20742
- Center for Comparative and Evolutionary Biology of Hearing, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, 20742
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25
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Xiao J, Provenza NR, Asfouri J, Myers J, Mathura RK, Metzger B, Adkinson JA, Allawala AB, Pirtle V, Oswalt D, Shofty B, Robinson ME, Mathew SJ, Goodman WK, Pouratian N, Schrater PR, Patel AB, Tolias AS, Bijanki KR, Pitkow X, Sheth SA. Decoding Depression Severity From Intracranial Neural Activity. Biol Psychiatry 2023; 94:445-453. [PMID: 36736418 PMCID: PMC10394110 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2023.01.020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/14/2022] [Revised: 01/09/2023] [Accepted: 01/25/2023] [Indexed: 02/05/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Disorders of mood and cognition are prevalent, disabling, and notoriously difficult to treat. Fueling this challenge in treatment is a significant gap in our understanding of their neurophysiological basis. METHODS We recorded high-density neural activity from intracranial electrodes implanted in depression-relevant prefrontal cortical regions in 3 human subjects with severe depression. Neural recordings were labeled with depression severity scores across a wide dynamic range using an adaptive assessment that allowed sampling with a temporal frequency greater than that possible with typical rating scales. We modeled these data using regularized regression techniques with region selection to decode depression severity from the prefrontal recordings. RESULTS Across prefrontal regions, we found that reduced depression severity is associated with decreased low-frequency neural activity and increased high-frequency activity. When constraining our model to decode using a single region, spectral changes in the anterior cingulate cortex best predicted depression severity in all 3 subjects. Relaxing this constraint revealed unique, individual-specific sets of spatiospectral features predictive of symptom severity, reflecting the heterogeneous nature of depression. CONCLUSIONS The ability to decode depression severity from neural activity increases our fundamental understanding of how depression manifests in the human brain and provides a target neural signature for personalized neuromodulation therapies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiayang Xiao
- Department of Neurosurgery, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas; Department of Neuroscience, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas
| | - Nicole R Provenza
- Department of Neurosurgery, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas
| | - Joseph Asfouri
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Rice University, Houston, Texas
| | - John Myers
- Department of Neurosurgery, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas
| | - Raissa K Mathura
- Department of Neurosurgery, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas
| | - Brian Metzger
- Department of Neurosurgery, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas
| | - Joshua A Adkinson
- Department of Neurosurgery, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas
| | | | - Victoria Pirtle
- Department of Neurosurgery, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas
| | - Denise Oswalt
- Department of Neurosurgery, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas
| | - Ben Shofty
- Department of Neurosurgery, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas
| | - Meghan E Robinson
- Department of Neurosurgery, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas
| | - Sanjay J Mathew
- Department of Psychiatry, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas
| | - Wayne K Goodman
- Department of Psychiatry, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas
| | - Nader Pouratian
- Department of Neurological Surgery, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas
| | - Paul R Schrater
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota; Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota
| | - Ankit B Patel
- Department of Neuroscience, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas; Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Rice University, Houston, Texas; Center for Neuroscience and Artificial Intelligence, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas
| | - Andreas S Tolias
- Department of Neuroscience, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas; Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Rice University, Houston, Texas; Center for Neuroscience and Artificial Intelligence, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas
| | - Kelly R Bijanki
- Department of Neurosurgery, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas
| | - Xaq Pitkow
- Department of Neuroscience, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas; Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Rice University, Houston, Texas; Center for Neuroscience and Artificial Intelligence, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas
| | - Sameer A Sheth
- Department of Neurosurgery, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas.
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26
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Le NM, Yildirim M, Wang Y, Sugihara H, Jazayeri M, Sur M. Mixtures of strategies underlie rodent behavior during reversal learning. PLoS Comput Biol 2023; 19:e1011430. [PMID: 37708113 PMCID: PMC10501641 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1011430] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/03/2023] [Accepted: 08/09/2023] [Indexed: 09/16/2023] Open
Abstract
In reversal learning tasks, the behavior of humans and animals is often assumed to be uniform within single experimental sessions to facilitate data analysis and model fitting. However, behavior of agents can display substantial variability in single experimental sessions, as they execute different blocks of trials with different transition dynamics. Here, we observed that in a deterministic reversal learning task, mice display noisy and sub-optimal choice transitions even at the expert stages of learning. We investigated two sources of the sub-optimality in the behavior. First, we found that mice exhibit a high lapse rate during task execution, as they reverted to unrewarded directions after choice transitions. Second, we unexpectedly found that a majority of mice did not execute a uniform strategy, but rather mixed between several behavioral modes with different transition dynamics. We quantified the use of such mixtures with a state-space model, block Hidden Markov Model (block HMM), to dissociate the mixtures of dynamic choice transitions in individual blocks of trials. Additionally, we found that blockHMM transition modes in rodent behavior can be accounted for by two different types of behavioral algorithms, model-free or inference-based learning, that might be used to solve the task. Combining these approaches, we found that mice used a mixture of both exploratory, model-free strategies and deterministic, inference-based behavior in the task, explaining their overall noisy choice sequences. Together, our combined computational approach highlights intrinsic sources of noise in rodent reversal learning behavior and provides a richer description of behavior than conventional techniques, while uncovering the hidden states that underlie the block-by-block transitions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nhat Minh Le
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America
- Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Murat Yildirim
- Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America
- Department of Neurosciences, Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland, Ohio, United States of America
| | - Yizhi Wang
- Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Hiroki Sugihara
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America
- Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Mehrdad Jazayeri
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America
- McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Mriganka Sur
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America
- Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America
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27
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Ramamurthy DL, Chen A, Zhou J, Park C, Huang PC, Bharghavan P, Krishna G, Liu J, Casale K, Feldman DE. VIP interneurons in sensory cortex encode sensory and action signals but not direct reward signals. Curr Biol 2023; 33:3398-3408.e7. [PMID: 37499665 PMCID: PMC10528032 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.06.086] [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: 02/11/2022] [Revised: 06/28/2023] [Accepted: 06/30/2023] [Indexed: 07/29/2023]
Abstract
Vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) interneurons in sensory cortex modulate sensory responses based on global exploratory behavior and arousal state, but their function during non-exploratory, goal-directed behavior is not well understood. In particular, whether VIP cells are activated by sensory cues, reward-seeking actions, or directly by reinforcement is unclear. We trained mice on a Go/NoGo whisker touch detection task that included a delay period and other features designed to separate sensory-evoked, action-related, and reward-related neural activity. Mice had to lick in response to a whisker stimulus to receive a variable-sized reward. Using two-photon calcium imaging, we measured ΔF/F responses of L2/3 VIP neurons in whisker somatosensory cortex (S1) during behavior. In both expert and novice mice, VIP cells were strongly activated by whisker stimuli and goal-directed actions (licking), but not by reinforcement. VIP cells showed somatotopic whisker tuning that was spatially organized relative to anatomical columns in S1, unlike lick-related signals which were spatially widespread. In expert mice, lick-related VIP responses were suppressed, not enhanced, when a reward was delivered, and the amount of suppression increased with reward size. This reward-related suppression was not seen in novice mice, where reward delivery was not yoked to licking. These results indicate that besides arousal and global state variables, VIP cells are activated by local sensory features and goal-directed actions, but not directly by reinforcement. Instead, our results are consistent with a role for VIP cells in encoding the expectation of reward associated with motor actions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Deepa L Ramamurthy
- Department of Molecular & Cell Biology and Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720-3200, USA.
| | - Andrew Chen
- Department of Molecular & Cell Biology and Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720-3200, USA
| | - Jiayu Zhou
- Department of Molecular & Cell Biology and Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720-3200, USA
| | - Chanbin Park
- Department of Molecular & Cell Biology and Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720-3200, USA
| | - Patrick C Huang
- Department of Molecular & Cell Biology and Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720-3200, USA
| | - Priyanka Bharghavan
- Department of Molecular & Cell Biology and Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720-3200, USA
| | - Gayathri Krishna
- Department of Molecular & Cell Biology and Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720-3200, USA
| | - Jinjian Liu
- Department of Molecular & Cell Biology and Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720-3200, USA
| | - Kayla Casale
- Department of Molecular & Cell Biology and Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720-3200, USA
| | - Daniel E Feldman
- Department of Molecular & Cell Biology and Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720-3200, USA.
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28
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Hanssen R, Rigoux L, Kuzmanovic B, Iglesias S, Kretschmer AC, Schlamann M, Albus K, Edwin Thanarajah S, Sitnikow T, Melzer C, Cornely OA, Brüning JC, Tittgemeyer M. Liraglutide restores impaired associative learning in individuals with obesity. Nat Metab 2023; 5:1352-1363. [PMID: 37592007 PMCID: PMC10447249 DOI: 10.1038/s42255-023-00859-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/30/2022] [Accepted: 07/07/2023] [Indexed: 08/19/2023]
Abstract
Survival under selective pressure is driven by the ability of our brain to use sensory information to our advantage to control physiological needs. To that end, neural circuits receive and integrate external environmental cues and internal metabolic signals to form learned sensory associations, consequently motivating and adapting our behaviour. The dopaminergic midbrain plays a crucial role in learning adaptive behaviour and is particularly sensitive to peripheral metabolic signals, including intestinal peptides, such as glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1). In a single-blinded, randomized, controlled, crossover basic human functional magnetic resonance imaging study relying on a computational model of the adaptive learning process underlying behavioural responses, we show that adaptive learning is reduced when metabolic sensing is impaired in obesity, as indexed by reduced insulin sensitivity (participants: N = 30 with normal insulin sensitivity; N = 24 with impaired insulin sensitivity). Treatment with the GLP-1 receptor agonist liraglutide normalizes impaired learning of sensory associations in men and women with obesity. Collectively, our findings reveal that GLP-1 receptor activation modulates associative learning in people with obesity via its central effects within the mesoaccumbens pathway. These findings provide evidence for how metabolic signals can act as neuromodulators to adapt our behaviour to our body's internal state and how GLP-1 receptor agonists work in clinics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ruth Hanssen
- Max Planck Institute for Metabolism Research, Cologne, Germany
- Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, Policlinic for Endocrinology, Diabetology and Preventive Medicine (PEPD), University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - Lionel Rigoux
- Max Planck Institute for Metabolism Research, Cologne, Germany
| | | | - Sandra Iglesias
- Translational Neuromodeling Unit, Institute for Biomedical Engineering, University of Zurich and Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Alina C Kretschmer
- Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, Department I of Internal Medicine, Center for Integrated Oncology Aachen Bonn Cologne Duesseldorf (CIO ABCD) and Excellence Center for Medical Mycology (ECMM), University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - Marc Schlamann
- Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, Institute for Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - Kerstin Albus
- Cologne Excellence Cluster on Cellular Stress Responses in Aging-Associated Diseases (CECAD), University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - Sharmili Edwin Thanarajah
- Max Planck Institute for Metabolism Research, Cologne, Germany
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Tamara Sitnikow
- Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, Policlinic for Endocrinology, Diabetology and Preventive Medicine (PEPD), University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - Corina Melzer
- Max Planck Institute for Metabolism Research, Cologne, Germany
| | - Oliver A Cornely
- Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, Department I of Internal Medicine, Center for Integrated Oncology Aachen Bonn Cologne Duesseldorf (CIO ABCD) and Excellence Center for Medical Mycology (ECMM), University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
- Cologne Excellence Cluster on Cellular Stress Responses in Aging-Associated Diseases (CECAD), University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
- German Centre for Infection Research (DZIF), Partner Site Bonn-Cologne, Cologne, Germany
- Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, Clinical Trials Centre Cologne (ZKS Köln), University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - Jens C Brüning
- Max Planck Institute for Metabolism Research, Cologne, Germany
- Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, Policlinic for Endocrinology, Diabetology and Preventive Medicine (PEPD), University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
- Cologne Excellence Cluster on Cellular Stress Responses in Aging-Associated Diseases (CECAD), University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - Marc Tittgemeyer
- Max Planck Institute for Metabolism Research, Cologne, Germany.
- Cologne Excellence Cluster on Cellular Stress Responses in Aging-Associated Diseases (CECAD), University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany.
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29
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Mo C, McKinnon C, Sherman SM. A transthalamic pathway crucial for perception. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.03.30.533323. [PMID: 37034798 PMCID: PMC10081228 DOI: 10.1101/2023.03.30.533323] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
Perception arises from activity between cortical areas, first primary cortex and then higher order cortices. This communication is served in part by transthalamic (cortico-thalamo-cortical) pathways, which ubiquitously parallel direct corticocortical pathways, but their role in sensory processing has largely remained unexplored. Here, we show that the transthalamic pathway linking somatosensory cortices propagates task-relevant information required for correct sensory decisions. Using optogenetics, we specifically inhibited the pathway at its synapse in higher order somatosensory thalamus of mice performing a texture-based discrimination task. We concurrently monitored the cellular effects of inhibition in primary or secondary cortex using two-photon calcium imaging. Inhibition severely impaired performance despite intact direct corticocortical projections, thus challenging the purely corticocentric map of perception. Interestingly, the inhibition did not reduce overall cell responsiveness to texture stimulation in somatosensory cortex, but rather disrupted the texture selectivity of cells, a discriminability that develops over task learning. This discriminability was more disrupted in the secondary than primary somatosensory cortex, emphasizing the feedforward influence of the transthalamic route. Transthalamic pathways thus appear critical in delivering performance-relevant information to higher order cortex and are critical hierarchical pathways in perceptual decision-making.
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30
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Wang BA, Veismann M, Banerjee A, Pleger B. Human orbitofrontal cortex signals decision outcomes to sensory cortex during behavioral adaptations. Nat Commun 2023; 14:3552. [PMID: 37322004 PMCID: PMC10272188 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-38671-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/09/2022] [Accepted: 05/10/2023] [Indexed: 06/17/2023] Open
Abstract
The ability to respond flexibly to an ever-changing environment relies on the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC). However, how the OFC associates sensory information with predicted outcomes to enable flexible sensory learning in humans remains elusive. Here, we combine a probabilistic tactile reversal learning task with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate how lateral OFC (lOFC) interacts with the primary somatosensory cortex (S1) to guide flexible tactile learning in humans. fMRI results reveal that lOFC and S1 exhibit distinct task-dependent engagement: while the lOFC responds transiently to unexpected outcomes immediately following reversals, S1 is persistently engaged during re-learning. Unlike the contralateral stimulus-selective S1, activity in ipsilateral S1 mirrors the outcomes of behavior during re-learning, closely related to top-down signals from lOFC. These findings suggest that lOFC contributes to teaching signals to dynamically update representations in sensory areas, which implement computations critical for adaptive behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bin A Wang
- Department of Neurology, BG University Hospital Bergmannsheil, Ruhr-University Bochum, Bochum, Germany
- Collaborative Research Centre 874 "Integration and Representation of Sensory Processes", Ruhr-University Bochum, Bochum, Germany
| | - Maike Veismann
- Department of Neurology, BG University Hospital Bergmannsheil, Ruhr-University Bochum, Bochum, Germany
- Collaborative Research Centre 874 "Integration and Representation of Sensory Processes", Ruhr-University Bochum, Bochum, Germany
| | - Abhishek Banerjee
- Adaptive Decisions Lab, Biosciences Institute, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.
| | - Burkhard Pleger
- Department of Neurology, BG University Hospital Bergmannsheil, Ruhr-University Bochum, Bochum, Germany.
- Collaborative Research Centre 874 "Integration and Representation of Sensory Processes", Ruhr-University Bochum, Bochum, Germany.
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31
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Li DC, Pitts EG, Dighe NM, Gourley SL. GluN2B inhibition confers resilience against long-term cocaine-induced neurocognitive sequelae. Neuropsychopharmacology 2023; 48:1108-1117. [PMID: 36056105 PMCID: PMC10209078 DOI: 10.1038/s41386-022-01437-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/31/2022] [Revised: 07/26/2022] [Accepted: 08/17/2022] [Indexed: 01/02/2023]
Abstract
Cocaine self-administration can disrupt the capacity of humans and rodents to flexibly modify familiar behavioral routines, even when they become maladaptive or unbeneficial. However, mechanistic factors, particularly those driving long-term behavioral changes, are still being determined. Here, we capitalized on individual differences in oral cocaine self-administration patterns in adolescent mice and revealed that the post-synaptic protein PSD-95 was reduced in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) of escalating, but not stable, responders, which corresponded with later deficits in flexible decision-making behavior. Meanwhile, NMDA receptor GluN2B subunit content was lower in the OFC of mice that were resilient to escalatory oral cocaine seeking. This discovery led us to next co-administer the GluN2B-selective antagonist ifenprodil with cocaine, blocking the later emergence of cocaine-induced decision-making abnormalities. GluN2B inhibition also prevented cocaine-induced dysregulation of neuronal structure and function in the OFC, preserving mature, mushroom-shaped dendritic spine densities on deep-layer pyramidal neurons, which were otherwise lower with cocaine, and safeguarding functional BLA→OFC connections necessary for action flexibility. We posit that cocaine potentiates GluN2B-dependent signaling, which triggers a series of durable adaptations that result in the dysregulation of post-synaptic neuronal structure in the OFC and disruption of BLA→OFC connections, ultimately weakening the capacity for flexible choice. And thus, inhibiting GluN2B-NMDARs promotes resilience to long-term cocaine-related sequelae.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dan C Li
- Medical Scientist Training Program, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA
- Emory National Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Elizabeth G Pitts
- Department of Pediatrics, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA
- Emory National Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Niharika M Dighe
- Department of Pediatrics, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA
- Emory National Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Shannon L Gourley
- Department of Pediatrics, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA.
- Emory National Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
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Lee C, Côté SL, Raman N, Chaudhary H, Mercado BC, Chen SX. Whole-brain mapping of long-range inputs to the VIP-expressing inhibitory neurons in the primary motor cortex. Front Neural Circuits 2023; 17:1093066. [PMID: 37275468 PMCID: PMC10237295 DOI: 10.3389/fncir.2023.1093066] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/08/2022] [Accepted: 05/05/2023] [Indexed: 06/07/2023] Open
Abstract
The primary motor cortex (MOp) is an important site for motor skill learning. Interestingly, neurons in MOp possess reward-related activity, presumably to facilitate reward-based motor learning. While pyramidal neurons (PNs) and different subtypes of GABAergic inhibitory interneurons (INs) in MOp all undergo cell-type specific plastic changes during motor learning, the vasoactive intestinal peptide-expressing inhibitory interneurons (VIP-INs) in MOp have been shown to preferentially respond to reward and play a critical role in the early phases of motor learning by triggering local circuit plasticity. To understand how VIP-INs might integrate various streams of information, such as sensory, pre-motor, and reward-related inputs, to regulate local plasticity in MOp, we performed monosynaptic rabies tracing experiments and employed an automated cell counting pipeline to generate a comprehensive map of brain-wide inputs to VIP-INs in MOp. We then compared this input profile to the brain-wide inputs to somatostatin-expressing inhibitory interneurons (SST-INs) and parvalbumin-expressing inhibitory interneurons (PV-INs) in MOp. We found that while all cell types received major inputs from sensory, motor, and prefrontal cortical regions, as well as from various thalamic nuclei, VIP-INs received more inputs from the orbital frontal cortex (ORB) - a region associated with reinforcement learning and value predictions. Our findings provide insight on how the brain leverages microcircuit motifs by both integrating and partitioning different streams of long-range input to modulate local circuit activity and plasticity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Candice Lee
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada
| | - Sandrine L. Côté
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada
| | - Nima Raman
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada
| | - Hritvic Chaudhary
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada
| | - Bryan C. Mercado
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada
| | - Simon X. Chen
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada
- Brain and Mind Research Institute, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada
- Center for Neural Dynamics, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada
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Schaffner J, Bao SD, Tobler PN, Hare TA, Polania R. Sensory perception relies on fitness-maximizing codes. Nat Hum Behav 2023:10.1038/s41562-023-01584-y. [PMID: 37106080 PMCID: PMC10365992 DOI: 10.1038/s41562-023-01584-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/09/2021] [Accepted: 03/09/2023] [Indexed: 04/29/2023]
Abstract
Sensory information encoded by humans and other organisms is generally presumed to be as accurate as their biological limitations allow. However, perhaps counterintuitively, accurate sensory representations may not necessarily maximize the organism's chances of survival. To test this hypothesis, we developed a unified normative framework for fitness-maximizing encoding by combining theoretical insights from neuroscience, computer science, and economics. Behavioural experiments in humans revealed that sensory encoding strategies are flexibly adapted to promote fitness maximization, a result confirmed by deep neural networks with information capacity constraints trained to solve the same task as humans. Moreover, human functional MRI data revealed that novel behavioural goals that rely on object perception induce efficient stimulus representations in early sensory structures. These results suggest that fitness-maximizing rules imposed by the environment are applied at early stages of sensory processing in humans and machines.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonathan Schaffner
- Zurich Center for Neuroeconomics, Department of Economics, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- Neuroscience Center Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Sherry Dongqi Bao
- Zurich Center for Neuroeconomics, Department of Economics, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- Neuroscience Center Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Philippe N Tobler
- Zurich Center for Neuroeconomics, Department of Economics, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- Neuroscience Center Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Todd A Hare
- Zurich Center for Neuroeconomics, Department of Economics, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
- Neuroscience Center Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
| | - Rafael Polania
- Neuroscience Center Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
- Decision Neuroscience Lab, Department of Health Sciences and Technology, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
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34
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Kira S, Safaai H, Morcos AS, Panzeri S, Harvey CD. A distributed and efficient population code of mixed selectivity neurons for flexible navigation decisions. Nat Commun 2023; 14:2121. [PMID: 37055431 PMCID: PMC10102117 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-37804-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 17.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2021] [Accepted: 03/30/2023] [Indexed: 04/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Decision-making requires flexibility to rapidly switch one's actions in response to sensory stimuli depending on information stored in memory. We identified cortical areas and neural activity patterns underlying this flexibility during virtual navigation, where mice switched navigation toward or away from a visual cue depending on its match to a remembered cue. Optogenetics screening identified V1, posterior parietal cortex (PPC), and retrosplenial cortex (RSC) as necessary for accurate decisions. Calcium imaging revealed neurons that can mediate rapid navigation switches by encoding a mixture of a current and remembered visual cue. These mixed selectivity neurons emerged through task learning and predicted the mouse's choices by forming efficient population codes before correct, but not incorrect, choices. They were distributed across posterior cortex, even V1, and were densest in RSC and sparsest in PPC. We propose flexibility in navigation decisions arises from neurons that mix visual and memory information within a visual-parietal-retrosplenial network.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shinichiro Kira
- Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Houman Safaai
- Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
- Neural Computation Laboratory, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Rovereto, Italy
| | - Ari S Morcos
- Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Stefano Panzeri
- Neural Computation Laboratory, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Rovereto, Italy
- Department of Excellence for Neural Information Processing, Center for Molecular Neurobiology (ZMNH), University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), Hamburg, Germany
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35
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Sullivan M, Fernandez-Aranda F, Camacho-Barcia L, Harkin A, Macrì S, Mora-Maltas B, Jiménez-Murcia S, O'Leary A, Ottomana AM, Presta M, Slattery D, Scholtz S, Glennon JC. Insulin and Disorders of Behavioural Flexibility. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2023; 150:105169. [PMID: 37059405 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2023.105169] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/30/2022] [Revised: 04/03/2023] [Accepted: 04/10/2023] [Indexed: 04/16/2023]
Abstract
Behavioural inflexibility is a symptom of neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders such as Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Autism Spectrum Disorder and Alzheimer's Disease, encompassing the maintenance of a behaviour even when no longer appropriate. Recent evidence suggests that insulin signalling has roles apart from its regulation of peripheral metabolism and mediates behaviourally-relevant central nervous system (CNS) functions including behavioural flexibility. Indeed, insulin resistance is reported to generate anxious, perseverative phenotypes in animal models, with the Type 2 diabetes medication metformin proving to be beneficial for disorders including Alzheimer's Disease. Structural and functional neuroimaging studies of Type 2 diabetes patients have highlighted aberrant connectivity in regions governing salience detection, attention, inhibition and memory. As currently available therapeutic strategies feature high rates of resistance, there is an urgent need to better understand the complex aetiology of behaviour and develop improved therapeutics. In this review, we explore the circuitry underlying behavioural flexibility, changes in Type 2 diabetes, the role of insulin in CNS outcomes and mechanisms of insulin involvement across disorders of behavioural inflexibility.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mairéad Sullivan
- Conway Institute of Biomedical and Biomolecular Research, School of Medicine, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
| | - Fernando Fernandez-Aranda
- Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital of Bellvitge, Barcelona, Spain; Psychoneurobiology of Eating and Addictive Behaviors Group, Neurosciences Program, Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL), Barcelona, Spain; CIBER Fisiopatología Obesidad y Nutrición (CIBERobn), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Barcelona, Spain; Department of Clinical Sciences, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Lucía Camacho-Barcia
- Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital of Bellvitge, Barcelona, Spain; Psychoneurobiology of Eating and Addictive Behaviors Group, Neurosciences Program, Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL), Barcelona, Spain; CIBER Fisiopatología Obesidad y Nutrición (CIBERobn), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Andrew Harkin
- School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
| | - Simone Macrì
- Centre for Behavioural Sciences and Mental Health, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, 00161 Rome, Italy
| | - Bernat Mora-Maltas
- Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital of Bellvitge, Barcelona, Spain; Psychoneurobiology of Eating and Addictive Behaviors Group, Neurosciences Program, Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL), Barcelona, Spain
| | - Susana Jiménez-Murcia
- Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital of Bellvitge, Barcelona, Spain; Psychoneurobiology of Eating and Addictive Behaviors Group, Neurosciences Program, Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL), Barcelona, Spain; CIBER Fisiopatología Obesidad y Nutrición (CIBERobn), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Barcelona, Spain; Department of Clinical Sciences, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Aet O'Leary
- University Hospital Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany
| | - Angela Maria Ottomana
- Centre for Behavioural Sciences and Mental Health, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, 00161 Rome, Italy; Neuroscience Unit, Department of Medicine, University of Parma, 43100 Parma, Italy
| | - Martina Presta
- Centre for Behavioural Sciences and Mental Health, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, 00161 Rome, Italy; Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy
| | | | | | - Jeffrey C Glennon
- Conway Institute of Biomedical and Biomolecular Research, School of Medicine, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
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36
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Garvert MM, Saanum T, Schulz E, Schuck NW, Doeller CF. Hippocampal spatio-predictive cognitive maps adaptively guide reward generalization. Nat Neurosci 2023; 26:615-626. [PMID: 37012381 PMCID: PMC10076220 DOI: 10.1038/s41593-023-01283-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/18/2021] [Accepted: 02/15/2023] [Indexed: 04/05/2023]
Abstract
The brain forms cognitive maps of relational knowledge-an organizing principle thought to underlie our ability to generalize and make inferences. However, how can a relevant map be selected in situations where a stimulus is embedded in multiple relational structures? Here, we find that both spatial and predictive cognitive maps influence generalization in a choice task, where spatial location determines reward magnitude. Mirroring behavior, the hippocampus not only builds a map of spatial relationships but also encodes the experienced transition structure. As the task progresses, participants' choices become more influenced by spatial relationships, reflected in a strengthening of the spatial map and a weakening of the predictive map. This change is driven by orbitofrontal cortex, which represents the degree to which an outcome is consistent with the spatial rather than the predictive map and updates hippocampal representations accordingly. Taken together, this demonstrates how hippocampal cognitive maps are used and updated flexibly for inference.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mona M Garvert
- Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany.
- Max Planck Research Group NeuroCode, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany.
- Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany.
| | - Tankred Saanum
- Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, Berlin, Germany
| | - Eric Schulz
- Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, Berlin, Germany
| | - Nicolas W Schuck
- Max Planck Research Group NeuroCode, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany
- Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany
- Institute of Psychology, Universität Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Christian F Doeller
- Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany.
- Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience, Centre for Neural Computation, The Egil and Pauline Braathen and Fred Kavli Centre for Cortical Microcircuits, Jebsen Centre for Alzheimer's Disease NTNU, Trondheim, Norway.
- Wilhelm Wundt Institute of Psychology, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany.
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37
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Pleger B, Wang B. P-12 Brain networks of cognitive flexibility in humans and mice. Clin Neurophysiol 2023. [DOI: 10.1016/j.clinph.2023.02.029] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/08/2023]
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38
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Lin S, Nie M, Wang B, Duan S, Huang Q, Wu N, Chen Z, Zhao H, Han Y. Intrinsic brain abnormalities in chronic rhinosinusitis associated with mood and cognitive function. Front Neurosci 2023; 17:1131114. [PMID: 36968506 PMCID: PMC10036396 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2023.1131114] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/24/2022] [Accepted: 02/27/2023] [Indexed: 03/12/2023] Open
Abstract
BackgroundChronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) poses a risk for developing emotional and cognitive disorders. However, the neural evidence for this association is largely unclear. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) analysis can demonstrate abnormal brain activity and functional connectivity and contribute to explaining the potential pathophysiology of CRS-related mood and cognitive alterations.MethodsChronic rhinosinusitis patients (CRS, n = 26) and gender- and age-matched healthy control subjects (HCs, n = 38) underwent resting-state functional MRI scanning. The amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF) was calculated to observe the intrinsic brain activity. The brain region with altered ALFF was further selected as the seed for functional connectivity (FC) analysis. Correlation analysis was performed between the ALFF/FC and clinical parameters in CRS patients.ResultsCompared with HCs, CRS patients exhibited significantly increased ALFF in the left orbital superior frontal cortex and reduced connectivity in the right precuneus using the orbital superior frontal cortex as the seed region. The magnitude of the orbital superior frontal cortex increased with inflammation severity. In addition, ALFF values in the orbital superior frontal cortex were positively correlated with the hospital anxiety and depression scale (HADS) scores. The ROC curves of altered brain regions indicated great accuracy in distinguishing between CRS patients and HCs.ConclusionIn this study, patients with CRS showed increased neural activity in the orbital superior frontal cortex, a critical region in emotional regulation, and this region also indicated hypoconnectivity to the precuneus with a central role in modulating cognition. This study provided preliminary insights into the potential neural mechanism related to mood and cognitive dysfunctions in CRS patients.
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Affiliation(s)
- Simin Lin
- Department of Radiology, Xiamen Cardiovascular Hospital of Xiamen University, School of Medicine, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China
| | - Miaomiao Nie
- Department of Radiology, Zhongshan Hospital of Xiamen University, School of Medicine, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China
| | - Bingshan Wang
- Department of Radiology, Zhongshan Hospital of Xiamen University, School of Medicine, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China
| | - Shaoyin Duan
- Department of Radiology, Zhongshan Hospital of Xiamen University, School of Medicine, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China
| | - Qianwen Huang
- Department of Radiology, Zhongshan Hospital of Xiamen University, School of Medicine, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China
| | - Naiming Wu
- Department of Radiology, Xiamen Cardiovascular Hospital of Xiamen University, School of Medicine, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China
| | - Zhishang Chen
- Department of Radiology, Xiamen Cardiovascular Hospital of Xiamen University, School of Medicine, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China
| | - Hengyu Zhao
- Department of Radiology, Xiamen Cardiovascular Hospital of Xiamen University, School of Medicine, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China
- Hengyu Zhao,
| | - Yi Han
- Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Eye Institute of Xiamen University, School of Medicine, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China
- *Correspondence: Yi Han,
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39
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Banerjee A, Wang BA, Teutsch J, Helmchen F, Pleger B. Analogous cognitive strategies for tactile learning in the rodent and human brain. Prog Neurobiol 2023; 222:102401. [PMID: 36608783 DOI: 10.1016/j.pneurobio.2023.102401] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/12/2022] [Revised: 12/21/2022] [Accepted: 01/02/2023] [Indexed: 01/05/2023]
Abstract
Evolution has molded individual species' sensory capacities and abilities. In rodents, who mostly inhabit dark tunnels and burrows, the whisker-based somatosensory system has developed as the dominant sensory modality, essential for environmental exploration and spatial navigation. In contrast, humans rely more on visual and auditory inputs when collecting information from their surrounding sensory space in everyday life. As a result of such species-specific differences in sensory dominance, cognitive relevance and capacities, the evidence for analogous sensory-cognitive mechanisms across species remains sparse. However, recent research in rodents and humans yielded surprisingly comparable processing rules for detecting tactile stimuli, integrating touch information into percepts, and goal-directed rule learning. Here, we review how the brain, across species, harnesses such processing rules to establish decision-making during tactile learning, following canonical circuits from the thalamus and the primary somatosensory cortex up to the frontal cortex. We discuss concordances between empirical and computational evidence from micro- and mesoscopic circuit studies in rodents to findings from macroscopic imaging in humans. Furthermore, we discuss the relevance and challenges for future cross-species research in addressing mutual context-dependent evaluation processes underpinning perceptual learning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Abhishek Banerjee
- Adaptive Decisions Lab, Biosciences Institute, Newcastle University, United Kingdom.
| | - Bin A Wang
- Department of Neurology, BG University Hospital Bergmannsheil, Ruhr University Bochum, Germany; Collaborative Research Centre 874 "Integration and Representation of Sensory Processes", Ruhr University Bochum, Germany.
| | - Jasper Teutsch
- Adaptive Decisions Lab, Biosciences Institute, Newcastle University, United Kingdom
| | - Fritjof Helmchen
- Laboratory of Neural Circuit Dynamics, Brain Research Institute, University of Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Burkhard Pleger
- Department of Neurology, BG University Hospital Bergmannsheil, Ruhr University Bochum, Germany; Collaborative Research Centre 874 "Integration and Representation of Sensory Processes", Ruhr University Bochum, Germany
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40
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Perrusquia-Hernández E, Andrade-González RD, Cifuentes-Mendiola SE, Montes-Angeles CD, Zepeda-Reyes KI, Pérez-Martínez IO. Chemosensory representation of first-time oral exposure to ethanol in the orbitofrontal cortex of mice. Exp Brain Res 2023; 241:417-425. [PMID: 36571635 DOI: 10.1007/s00221-022-06529-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/14/2022] [Accepted: 12/07/2022] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
Intermittent ethanol consumption changes the neuronal activity of the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) in rodents, which has been attributed to important participation in the development of addiction, particularly alcoholism. The OFC participates in gustatory sensory integration. However, it is unknown whether this region can encode chemosensory elements of oral ethanol administration independently of the consumption movement (orofacial motor response) when administered for the first time (naïve mice). To answer this question, we used a sedated mouse model and a temporary analysis protocol to register extracellular neuronal responses during the oral administration of ethanol. Our results show an increase in neuronal frequency (in the first 500 ms) when low (0.6, 1, and 2.1 M) and high (3.2, 4.3, and 8.6 M) concentrations of ethanol are orally administered. The modulatory effect of ethanol was observed from low and high concentrations and differed from the tastants. There was consistent neuronal activity independent of the concentration of ethanol. Our results demonstrate a sensory representation of oral ethanol stimulation in the OFC neurons of naïve mice under sedation.
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Affiliation(s)
- E Perrusquia-Hernández
- Sección de Neurobiología de las Sensaciones Orales, Laboratorio de Investigación Odontológica, Facultad de Estudios Superiores Iztacala, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, San Sebastián Xhala, 54714, Cuautitlán Izcalli, Mexico.,Sección de Estudios de Posgrado e Investigación, Escuela Superior de Medicina del Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Mexico City, Mexico
| | - R D Andrade-González
- Sección de Neurobiología de las Sensaciones Orales, Laboratorio de Investigación Odontológica, Facultad de Estudios Superiores Iztacala, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, San Sebastián Xhala, 54714, Cuautitlán Izcalli, Mexico.,Sección de Estudios de Posgrado e Investigación, Escuela Superior de Medicina del Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Mexico City, Mexico
| | - S E Cifuentes-Mendiola
- Sección de Osteoinmunología e Inmunidad Oral, Laboratorio de Investigación Odontológica, Facultad de Estudios Superiores Iztacala, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, Mexico
| | - C D Montes-Angeles
- Sección de Neurobiología de las Sensaciones Orales, Laboratorio de Investigación Odontológica, Facultad de Estudios Superiores Iztacala, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, San Sebastián Xhala, 54714, Cuautitlán Izcalli, Mexico
| | - K I Zepeda-Reyes
- Sección de Neurobiología de las Sensaciones Orales, Laboratorio de Investigación Odontológica, Facultad de Estudios Superiores Iztacala, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, San Sebastián Xhala, 54714, Cuautitlán Izcalli, Mexico
| | - Isaac Obed Pérez-Martínez
- Sección de Neurobiología de las Sensaciones Orales, Laboratorio de Investigación Odontológica, Facultad de Estudios Superiores Iztacala, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, San Sebastián Xhala, 54714, Cuautitlán Izcalli, Mexico.
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Nogueira R, Rodgers CC, Bruno RM, Fusi S. The geometry of cortical representations of touch in rodents. Nat Neurosci 2023; 26:239-250. [PMID: 36624277 DOI: 10.1038/s41593-022-01237-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 16.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/17/2021] [Accepted: 11/16/2022] [Indexed: 01/11/2023]
Abstract
Neurons often encode highly heterogeneous non-linear functions of multiple task variables, a signature of a high-dimensional geometry. We studied the representational geometry in the somatosensory cortex of mice trained to report the curvature of objects touched by their whiskers. High-speed videos of the whiskers revealed that the task can be solved by linearly integrating multiple whisker contacts over time. However, the neural activity in somatosensory cortex reflects non-linear integration of spatio-temporal features of the sensory inputs. Although the responses at first appeared disorganized, we identified an interesting structure in the representational geometry: different whisker contacts are disentangled variables represented in approximately, but not fully, orthogonal subspaces of the neural activity space. This geometry allows linear readouts to perform a broad class of tasks of different complexities without compromising the ability to generalize to novel situations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ramon Nogueira
- Center for Theoretical Neuroscience, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
- Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
- Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
| | - Chris C Rodgers
- Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
- Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
- Kavli Institute for Brain Science, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
- Department of Neurosurgery, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Randy M Bruno
- Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
- Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
- Kavli Institute for Brain Science, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
- Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Stefano Fusi
- Center for Theoretical Neuroscience, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
- Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
- Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
- Kavli Institute for Brain Science, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
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Anastasiades P, Banerjee A, Jones M. Three species is better than one: multiscale, multimodal, multi-species analyses of prefrontal cortical form, physiology and function. J Physiol 2023; 601:21-23. [PMID: 36478356 DOI: 10.1113/jp284052] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/24/2022] [Accepted: 12/05/2022] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Paul Anastasiades
- School of Translational Health Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Bristol, UK
| | - Abhishek Banerjee
- Adaptive Decisions Lab, Biosciences Institute, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
| | - Matt Jones
- School of Physiology, Pharmacology & Neuroscience, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Bristol, UK
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43
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Costa KM, Scholz R, Lloyd K, Moreno-Castilla P, Gardner MPH, Dayan P, Schoenbaum G. The role of the lateral orbitofrontal cortex in creating cognitive maps. Nat Neurosci 2023; 26:107-115. [PMID: 36550290 PMCID: PMC9839657 DOI: 10.1038/s41593-022-01216-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 21.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/12/2022] [Accepted: 10/26/2022] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
We use mental models of the world-cognitive maps-to guide behavior. The lateral orbitofrontal cortex (lOFC) is typically thought to support behavior by deploying these maps to simulate outcomes, but recent evidence suggests that it may instead support behavior by underlying map creation. We tested between these two alternatives using outcome-specific devaluation and a high-potency chemogenetic approach. Selectively inactivating lOFC principal neurons when male rats learned distinct cue-outcome associations, but before outcome devaluation, disrupted subsequent inference, confirming a role for the lOFC in creating new maps. However, lOFC inactivation surprisingly led to generalized devaluation, a result that is inconsistent with a complete mapping failure. Using a reinforcement learning framework, we show that this effect is best explained by a circumscribed deficit in credit assignment precision during map construction, suggesting that the lOFC has a selective role in defining the specificity of associations that comprise cognitive maps.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kauê Machado Costa
- National Institute on Drug Abuse Intramural Research Program, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, MD, USA.
| | - Robert Scholz
- Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany
- Max Planck School of Cognition, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Kevin Lloyd
- Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Perla Moreno-Castilla
- National Institute on Aging Intramural Research Program, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | | | - Peter Dayan
- Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany
- University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Geoffrey Schoenbaum
- National Institute on Drug Abuse Intramural Research Program, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, MD, USA.
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44
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De Martino B, Cortese A. Goals, usefulness and abstraction in value-based choice. Trends Cogn Sci 2023; 27:65-80. [PMID: 36446707 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2022.11.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/23/2022] [Revised: 10/26/2022] [Accepted: 11/01/2022] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar, while on the run, purportedly burned two million dollars in banknotes to keep his daughter warm. A stark reminder that, in life, circumstances and goals can quickly change, forcing us to reassess and modify our values on-the-fly. Studies in decision-making and neuroeconomics have often implicitly equated value to reward, emphasising the hedonic and automatic aspect of the value computation, while overlooking its functional (concept-like) nature. Here we outline the computational and biological principles that enable the brain to compute the usefulness of an option or action by creating abstractions that flexibly adapt to changing goals. We present different algorithmic architectures, comparing ideas from artificial intelligence (AI) and cognitive neuroscience with psychological theories and, when possible, drawing parallels.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benedetto De Martino
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London WC1N 3AZ, UK; Computational Neuroscience Laboratories, ATR Institute International, 619-0288 Kyoto, Japan.
| | - Aurelio Cortese
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London WC1N 3AZ, UK; Computational Neuroscience Laboratories, ATR Institute International, 619-0288 Kyoto, Japan.
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45
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Hart EE, Gardner MPH, Panayi MC, Kahnt T, Schoenbaum G. Calcium activity is a degraded estimate of spikes. Curr Biol 2022; 32:5364-5373.e4. [PMID: 36368324 PMCID: PMC9772124 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2022.10.037] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/22/2022] [Revised: 09/20/2022] [Accepted: 10/18/2022] [Indexed: 11/12/2022]
Abstract
Recording action potentials extracellularly during behavior has led to fundamental discoveries regarding neural function-hippocampal neurons respond to locations in space,1 motor cortex neurons encode movement direction,2 and dopamine neurons signal reward prediction errors3-observations undergirding current theories of cognition,4 movement,5 and learning.6 Recently it has become possible to measure calcium flux, an internal cellular signal related to spiking. The ability to image calcium flux in anatomically7,8 or genetically9 identified neurons can extend our knowledge of neural circuit function by allowing activity to be monitored in specific cell types or projections, or in the same neurons across many days. However, while initial studies were grounded in prior unit recording work, it has become fashionable to assume that calcium is identical to spiking, even though the spike-to-fluorescence transformation is nonlinear, noisy, and unpredictable under real-world conditions.10 It remains an open question whether calcium provides a high-fidelity representation of single-unit activity in awake, behaving subjects. Here, we have addressed this question by recording both signals in the lateral orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) of rats during olfactory discrimination learning. Activity in the OFC during olfactory learning has been well-studied in humans,11,12,13,14 nonhuman primates,15,16 and rats,17,18,19,20,21 where it has been shown to signal information about both the sensory properties of odor cues and the rewards they predict. Our single-unit results replicated prior findings, whereas the calcium signal provided only a degraded estimate of the information available in the single-unit spiking, reflecting primarily reward value.
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Affiliation(s)
- Evan E Hart
- National Institute on Drug Abuse Intramural Research Program, 251 Bayview Boulevard, Baltimore, MD 21224, USA
- National Institute of General Medical Sciences, 45 Center Drive, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
| | - Matthew PH Gardner
- National Institute on Drug Abuse Intramural Research Program, 251 Bayview Boulevard, Baltimore, MD 21224, USA
- Department of Psychology, Concordia University, 7141 Sherbrooke West, Montreal, QC H4B 1R6, CA
| | - Marios C Panayi
- National Institute on Drug Abuse Intramural Research Program, 251 Bayview Boulevard, Baltimore, MD 21224, USA
| | - Thorsten Kahnt
- National Institute on Drug Abuse Intramural Research Program, 251 Bayview Boulevard, Baltimore, MD 21224, USA
| | - Geoffrey Schoenbaum
- National Institute on Drug Abuse Intramural Research Program, 251 Bayview Boulevard, Baltimore, MD 21224, USA
- Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, 110 S Paca Street, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA
- Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, 251 Bayview Boulevard, Baltimore, MD 21224, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Maryland School of Medicine, 110 S Paca Street, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA
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46
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Zhang N, Xu NL. Reshaping sensory representations by task-specific brain states: Toward cortical circuit mechanisms. Curr Opin Neurobiol 2022; 77:102628. [PMID: 36116166 DOI: 10.1016/j.conb.2022.102628] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2022] [Revised: 07/12/2022] [Accepted: 08/15/2022] [Indexed: 01/10/2023]
Abstract
Perception is internally constructed by integrating brain states with external sensory inputs, a process depending on the topdown modulation of sensory representations. A wealth of earlier studies described task-dependent modulations of sensory cortex corroborating perceptual and behavioral phenomena. But only with recent technological advancements, the underlying circuit-level mechanisms began to be unveiled. We review recent progress along this line of research. It begins to be appreciated that topdown signals can encode various types of task-related information, ranging from task engagement, and category knowledge to decision execution; these signals are transferred via feedback pathways originating from distinct association cortices and interact with sensory cortical circuits. These plausible mechanisms support a broad range of computations from predictive coding to inference making, ultimately form dynamic percepts and endow behavioral flexibility.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ningyu 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.
| | - 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 200031, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China; Shanghai Center for Brain Science and Brain-Inspired Intelligence Technology, Shanghai 201210, China.
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47
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McBurney-Lin J, Vargova G, Garad M, Zagha E, Yang H. The locus coeruleus mediates behavioral flexibility. Cell Rep 2022; 41:111534. [PMID: 36288712 PMCID: PMC9662304 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2022.111534] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/08/2022] [Revised: 05/05/2022] [Accepted: 09/29/2022] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Behavioral flexibility is the ability to adjust behavioral strategies in response to changing environmental contingencies. A major hypothesis in the field posits that the activity of neurons in the locus coeruleus (LC) plays an important role in mediating behavioral flexibility. To test this hypothesis, we developed a tactile-based rule-shift detection task in which mice responded to left and right whisker deflections in a context-dependent manner and exhibited varying degrees of switching behavior. Recording spiking activity from optogenetically tagged neurons in the LC at millisecond precision during task performance revealed a prominent graded correlation between baseline LC activity and behavioral flexibility, where higher baseline activity following a rule change was associated with faster behavioral switching to the new rule. Increasing baseline LC activity with optogenetic activation accelerated task switching and improved task performance. Overall, our study provides important evidence to reveal the link between LC activity and behavioral flexibility.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jim McBurney-Lin
- Department of Molecular, Cell and Systems Biology, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521, USA,Neuroscience Graduate Program, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521, USA,These authors contributed equally
| | - Greta Vargova
- Department of Molecular, Cell and Systems Biology, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521, USA,These authors contributed equally
| | - Machhindra Garad
- Department of Molecular, Cell and Systems Biology, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521, USA
| | - Edward Zagha
- Neuroscience Graduate Program, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521, USA,Department of Psychology, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521, USA
| | - Hongdian Yang
- Department of Molecular, Cell and Systems Biology, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521, USA; Neuroscience Graduate Program, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521, USA.
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48
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The mediodorsal thalamus supports adaptive responding based on stimulus-outcome associations. CURRENT RESEARCH IN NEUROBIOLOGY 2022; 3:100057. [PMID: 36281274 PMCID: PMC9587292 DOI: 10.1016/j.crneur.2022.100057] [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: 05/20/2022] [Revised: 09/12/2022] [Accepted: 09/26/2022] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
The ability to engage into flexible behaviors is crucial in dynamic environments. We recently showed that in addition to the well described role of the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), its thalamic input from the submedius thalamic nucleus (Sub) also contributes to adaptive responding during Pavlovian degradation. In the present study, we examined the role of the mediodorsal thalamus (MD) which is the other main thalamic input to the OFC. To this end, we assessed the effect of both pre- and post-training MD lesions in rats performing a Pavlovian contingency degradation task. Pre-training lesions mildly impeded the establishment of stimulus-outcome associations during the initial training of Pavlovian conditioning without interfering with Pavlovian degradation training when the sensory feedback provided by the outcome rewards were available to animals. However, we found that both pre- and post-training MD lesions produced a selective impairment during a test conducted under extinction conditions, during which only current mental representation could guide behavior. Altogether, these data suggest a role for the MD in the successful encoding and representation of Pavlovian associations.
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49
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Rabinovich RJ, Kato DD, Bruno RM. Learning enhances encoding of time and temporal surprise in mouse primary sensory cortex. Nat Commun 2022; 13:5504. [PMID: 36127340 PMCID: PMC9489862 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-33141-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/23/2021] [Accepted: 09/02/2022] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Primary sensory cortex has long been believed to play a straightforward role in the initial processing of sensory information. Yet, the superficial layers of cortex overall are sparsely active, even during sensory stimulation; additionally, cortical activity is influenced by other modalities, task context, reward, and behavioral state. Our study demonstrates that reinforcement learning dramatically alters representations among longitudinally imaged neurons in superficial layers of mouse primary somatosensory cortex. Learning an object detection task recruits previously unresponsive neurons, enlarging the neuronal population sensitive to touch and behavioral choice. Cortical responses decrease upon repeated stimulus presentation outside of the behavioral task. Moreover, training improves population encoding of the passage of time, and unexpected deviations in trial timing elicit even stronger responses than touches do. In conclusion, the superficial layers of sensory cortex exhibit a high degree of learning-dependent plasticity and are strongly modulated by non-sensory but behaviorally-relevant features, such as timing and surprise. Activity in the superficial layers of the sensory cortex is believed to be largely driven by incoming sensory stimuli. Here the authors demonstrate how learning changes neural responses to sensations according to both behavioral relevance and timing, suggesting a high degree of non-sensory modulation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rebecca J Rabinovich
- Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University, New York, NY, 10027, USA.,Kavli Institute for Brain Science, Columbia University, New York, NY, 10027, USA.,Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Columbia University, New York, NY, 10027, USA
| | - Daniel D Kato
- Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University, New York, NY, 10027, USA.,Kavli Institute for Brain Science, Columbia University, New York, NY, 10027, USA.,Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Columbia University, New York, NY, 10027, USA
| | - Randy M Bruno
- Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University, New York, NY, 10027, USA. .,Kavli Institute for Brain Science, Columbia University, New York, NY, 10027, USA. .,Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Columbia University, New York, NY, 10027, USA. .,Department of Physiology, Anatomy & Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
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50
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Li DC, Dighe NM, Barbee BR, Pitts EG, Kochoian B, Blumenthal SA, Figueroa J, Leong T, Gourley SL. A molecularly integrated amygdalo-fronto-striatal network coordinates flexible learning and memory. Nat Neurosci 2022; 25:1213-1224. [PMID: 36042313 PMCID: PMC10614133 DOI: 10.1038/s41593-022-01148-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/09/2021] [Accepted: 07/18/2022] [Indexed: 01/28/2023]
Abstract
Behavioral flexibility-that is, the ability to deviate from established behavioral sequences-is critical for navigating dynamic environments and requires the durable encoding and retrieval of new memories to guide future choice. The orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) supports outcome-guided behaviors. However, the coordinated neural circuitry and cellular mechanisms by which OFC connections sustain flexible learning and memory remain elusive. Here we demonstrate in mice that basolateral amygdala (BLA)→OFC projections bidirectionally control memory formation when familiar behaviors are unexpectedly not rewarded, whereas OFC→dorsomedial striatum (DMS) projections facilitate memory retrieval. OFC neuronal ensembles store a memory trace for newly learned information, which appears to be facilitated by circuit-specific dendritic spine plasticity and neurotrophin signaling within defined BLA-OFC-DMS connections and obstructed by cocaine. Thus, we describe the directional transmission of information within an integrated amygdalo-fronto-striatal circuit across time, whereby novel memories are encoded by BLA→OFC inputs, represented within OFC ensembles and retrieved via OFC→DMS outputs during future choice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dan C Li
- Medical Scientist Training Program, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA
- Emory National Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Niharika M Dighe
- Department of Pediatrics, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA
- Emory National Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Britton R Barbee
- Department of Pediatrics, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA
- Emory National Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Elizabeth G Pitts
- Department of Pediatrics, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA
- Emory National Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Brik Kochoian
- Emory National Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Sarah A Blumenthal
- Emory National Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Janet Figueroa
- Department of Pediatrics, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Traci Leong
- Department of Pediatrics, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Shannon L Gourley
- Department of Pediatrics, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA.
- Emory National Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
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