A distributed and efficient population code of mixed selectivity neurons for flexible navigation decisions
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 towa...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2023-04-01
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| Series: | Nature Communications |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-37804-2 |
| _version_ | 1797845855000068096 |
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| author | Shinichiro Kira Houman Safaai Ari S. Morcos Stefano Panzeri Christopher D. Harvey |
| author_facet | Shinichiro Kira Houman Safaai Ari S. Morcos Stefano Panzeri Christopher D. Harvey |
| author_sort | Shinichiro Kira |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | 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. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-09T17:45:43Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-1a16aa8e9f804937b1c24883f5453036 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2041-1723 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-09T17:45:43Z |
| publishDate | 2023-04-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nature Communications |
| spelling | doaj.art-1a16aa8e9f804937b1c24883f54530362023-04-16T11:19:46ZengNature PortfolioNature Communications2041-17232023-04-0114112810.1038/s41467-023-37804-2A distributed and efficient population code of mixed selectivity neurons for flexible navigation decisionsShinichiro Kira0Houman Safaai1Ari S. Morcos2Stefano Panzeri3Christopher D. Harvey4Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical SchoolDepartment of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical SchoolDepartment of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical SchoolNeural Computation Laboratory, Istituto Italiano di TecnologiaDepartment of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical SchoolAbstract 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.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-37804-2 |
| spellingShingle | Shinichiro Kira Houman Safaai Ari S. Morcos Stefano Panzeri Christopher D. Harvey A distributed and efficient population code of mixed selectivity neurons for flexible navigation decisions Nature Communications |
| title | A distributed and efficient population code of mixed selectivity neurons for flexible navigation decisions |
| title_full | A distributed and efficient population code of mixed selectivity neurons for flexible navigation decisions |
| title_fullStr | A distributed and efficient population code of mixed selectivity neurons for flexible navigation decisions |
| title_full_unstemmed | A distributed and efficient population code of mixed selectivity neurons for flexible navigation decisions |
| title_short | A distributed and efficient population code of mixed selectivity neurons for flexible navigation decisions |
| title_sort | distributed and efficient population code of mixed selectivity neurons for flexible navigation decisions |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-37804-2 |
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