Stimulation of Individual Neurons Is Sufficient to Influence Sensory-Guided Decision-Making

Buchan, Matthew J.; Rowland, James M.

doi:10.1523/jneurosci.1026-18.2018

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…On the one hand, specific activity patterns could rely on a highly redundant connectivity structure, such that substantial changes in the network do not alter activity patterns [28][29][30] . On the other hand, specific manipulations on a small number of neurons can nevertheless have a big effect on activity patterns and behavior [31][32][33][34] . This hints that neuronal activity patterns may not be intrinsically robust, but are stabilized by dynamic feedback mechanisms.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Homeostasis of a representational map in the neocortex

Noda

Kienle

Eppler

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Cortical function and the processing of sensory stimuli is remarkably robust against the continuous loss of neurons during aging, but also accelerated loss during prodromal stages of neurodegeneration. Population activity of neurons in sensory cortices builds a representation of the environment in form of a map that is structured in an informative way for guiding behavior. Here, we used the mouse auditory cortex as a model and probed the robustness of a representational map against the removal functionally characterized neurons. Specifically, we tested in how far the structure of the representational map is safeguarded by homeostatic network mechanisms. We combined longitudinal two-photon calcium imaging of population responses evoked by a diverse set of sound stimuli in the mouse auditory cortex with a targeted microablation of individual, functionally characterized neurons. Unilateral microablation of 30 - 40 selected sound-responsive layer 2/3 neurons led to a temporary collapse of the representational map that showed a subsequent recovery. At the level of individual neurons, we observed that the recovery was predominantly driven by neurons that were unresponsive to the sounds before microablation and gained responsiveness during the time course of several days. The remodeling of the spared network was mediated by a shift of the distribution of tuning curves towards the ablated neurons and was accompanied by a shift in the excitation/inhibition balance. Together, our findings provide a link between the plasticity of individual neurons and the population dynamics of sensory representations mediating robustness of cortical function. The dynamic reconstitution of the structure of activity patterns evoked by sensory stimuli despite a permanent loss of neurons in the network demonstrates a homeostatic maintenance of sensory representations in the neocortex.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Homeostasis of a representational map in the neocortex

Noda

Kienle

Eppler

et al. 2023

Preprint

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“…Even in the primary (V1) and secondary visual areas, only 5-10% of neurons had responses that were time-locked to sensory cues ("cue-locked cells"). Still, it is known that remarkably small signals on the order of a few cortical neurons can in luence behavior (Doron and Brecht 2015;Buchan and Rowland 2018;Tanke, Borst, and Houweling 2018;Lerman et al 2019;Carrillo-Reid et al 2019;Marshel et al 2019) . Here we focused on the cue-locked cells, as candidates for momentary sensory inputs that may drive an accumulation and decision-making process.…”

Section: Introduc Onmentioning

confidence: 99%

Amplitude modulations of sensory responses, and deviations from Weber’s Law in pulsatile evidence accumulation

Koay

Thiberge

Brody

et al. 2020

Preprint

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AbstractHow do animals make behavioral decisions based on noisy sensory signals, which are moreover a tiny fraction of ongoing activity in the brain? Some theories suggest that sensory responses should be accumulated through time to reduce noise. Others suggest that feedback-based gain control of sensory responses allow small signals to be selectively amplified to drive behavior. We recorded from neuronal populations across posterior cortex as mice performed a decision-making task based on accumulating randomly timed pulses of visual evidence. Here we focus on a subset of neurons, with putative sensory responses that were time-locked to each pulse. These neurons exhibited a variety of amplitude (gain-like) modulations, notably by choice and accumulated evidence. These neural data inspired a hypothetical accumulation circuit with a multiplicative feedback-loop architecture, which parsimoniously explains deviations in perceptual discrimination from Weber-Fechner Law. Our neural observations thus led to a model that synthesizes both accumulation and feedback hypotheses.

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Amplitude modulations of cortical sensory responses in pulsatile evidence accumulation

Koay

Thiberge

Brody

et al. 2020

eLife

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How does the brain internally represent a sequence of sensory information that jointly drives a decision-making behavior? Studies of perceptual decision-making have often assumed that sensory cortices provide noisy but otherwise veridical sensory inputs to downstream processes that accumulate and drive decisions. However, sensory processing in even the earliest sensory cortices can be systematically modified by various external and internal contexts. We recorded from neuronal populations across posterior cortex as mice performed a navigational decision-making task based on accumulating randomly timed pulses of visual evidence. Even in V1, only a small fraction of active neurons had sensory-like responses time-locked to each pulse. Here we focus on how these 'cue-locked' neurons exhibited a variety of amplitude modulations from sensory to cognitive, notably by choice and accumulated evidence. These task-related modulations affected a large fraction of cue-locked neurons across posterior cortex, suggesting that future models of behavior should account for such influences.

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Stimulation of Individual Neurons Is Sufficient to Influence Sensory-Guided Decision-Making

Cited by 3 publications

References 24 publications

Homeostasis of a representational map in the neocortex

Homeostasis of a representational map in the neocortex

Amplitude modulations of sensory responses, and deviations from Weber’s Law in pulsatile evidence accumulation

Amplitude modulations of cortical sensory responses in pulsatile evidence accumulation

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