Distributed and specific encoding of sensory, motor, and decision information in the mouse neocortex during goal-directed behavior.
Cell Rep
; 43(1): 113618, 2024 01 23.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38150365
ABSTRACT
Goal-directed behaviors involve coordinated activity in many cortical areas, but whether the encoding of task variables is distributed across areas or is more specifically represented in distinct areas remains unclear. Here, we compared representations of sensory, motor, and decision information in the whisker primary somatosensory cortex, medial prefrontal cortex, and tongue-jaw primary motor cortex in mice trained to lick in response to a whisker stimulus with mice that were not taught this association. Irrespective of learning, properties of the sensory stimulus were best encoded in the sensory cortex, whereas fine movement kinematics were best represented in the motor cortex. However, movement initiation and the decision to lick in response to the whisker stimulus were represented in all three areas, with decision neurons in the medial prefrontal cortex being more selective, showing minimal sensory responses in miss trials and motor responses during spontaneous licks. Our results reconcile previous studies indicating highly specific vs. highly distributed sensorimotor processing.
Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Somatosensory Cortex
/
Neocortex
Limits:
Animals
Language:
En
Journal:
Cell Rep
Year:
2024
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Switzerland