Precise movement-based predictions in the mouse auditory cortex

Stimulus-specific prediction error neurons in mouse auditory cortex

“…To assess how movement-based predictions impact neural responses to expected and unexpected sounds, we trained head-fixed mice to produce a simple sound-generating behavior 11 . Mice pushed a lever past a fixed threshold to trigger a water reward (on 25% of trials) when the lever was returned to the home position (Fig 1A).…”

“…To assess neural responses to expected and unexpected self-generated sounds at the individual neuron level, we computed a modulation index that compared a neuron’s response to a sound heard in the active and passive conditions 11 . The vast majority of neurons had weaker responses to the expected sound when it was self-generated compared to when it was heard passively (negative modulation values) (Fig.…”

“…Sensory responses in the cerebral cortex are influenced by an animal's behavior [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10] and can reflect an expectation for the sensory consequences of movement [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22] . This dynamism is consistent with the theory of predictive processing, which posits that cortical activity prioritizes representing deviations from expectation over directly representing features of the external world 23,24 .…”

“…This dynamism is consistent with the theory of predictive processing, which posits that cortical activity prioritizes representing deviations from expectation over directly representing features of the external world 23,24 . Indeed, experiments that alter the sensory outcome of an animal’s behavior have consistently found that neural responses to unexpected outcomes are enhanced relative to expected outcomes 11,16,17,20,22 . This finding can be attributed in part to the recruitment of neurons that are active only when an animal experiences unexpected self-generated outcomes (e.g.…”

“…This finding can be attributed in part to the recruitment of neurons that are active only when an animal experiences unexpected self-generated outcomes (e.g. ‘prediction error’ neurons) 11,20,22 . Prediction error neurons are believed to represent the violation of a learned sensory-motor expectation, but could alternatively arise from the mixing of movement and sensation signals in a way that is unrelated to expectation 25 .…”