Neuron
Volume 97, Issue 4, 21 February 2018, Pages 885-897.e6
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Article
Small Networks Encode Decision-Making in Primary Auditory Cortex

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2018.01.019Get rights and content
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Highlights

  • A1 L2/3 neural responses to target sounds were enhanced during task performance

  • Sensory input, attentional gain, and behavioral choice modulated A1 neural activity

  • Behavioral choice modulated functional connectivity in neuronal populations

  • Neural decoding of behavioral choice was best within small neuronal networks

Summary

Sensory detection tasks enhance representations of behaviorally meaningful stimuli in primary auditory cortex (A1). However, it remains unclear how A1 encodes decision-making. Neurons in A1 layer 2/3 (L2/3) show heterogeneous stimulus selectivity and complex anatomical connectivity, and receive input from prefrontal cortex. Thus, task-related modulation of activity in A1 L2/3 might differ across subpopulations. To study the neural coding of decision-making, we used two-photon imaging in A1 L2/3 of mice performing a tone-detection task. Neural responses to targets showed attentional gain and encoded behavioral choice. To characterize network representation of behavioral choice, we analyzed functional connectivity using Granger causality, pairwise noise correlations, and neural decoding. During task performance, small groups of four to five neurons became sparsely linked, locally clustered, and rostro-caudally oriented, while noise correlations both increased and decreased. Our results suggest that sensory-based decision-making involves small neural networks driven by the sum of sensory input, attentional gain, and behavioral choice.

Keywords

auditory
cortex
mouse
behavior
imaging
2-photon
decision-making
attention
decoding
Granger

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