Neuron
Volume 104, Issue 6, 18 December 2019, Pages 1168-1179.e5
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Article
Targeted Cortical Manipulation of Auditory Perception

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2019.09.043Get rights and content
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Highlights

  • Auditory cortex is dispensable for discrimination of dissimilar pure tones in mice

  • Auditory cortex is involved in a sound discrimination requiring temporal integration

  • Focal cortical activations bias choices in cortex-dependent discriminations

  • Discrimination is faster for pure tones than for optogenetic cortical activations

Summary

Driving perception by direct activation of neural ensembles in cortex is a necessary step for achieving a causal understanding of the neural code for auditory perception and developing central sensory rehabilitation methods. Here, using optogenetic manipulations during an auditory discrimination task in mice, we show that auditory cortex can be short-circuited by coarser pathways for simple sound identification. Yet when the sensory decision becomes more complex, involving temporal integration of information, auditory cortex activity is required for sound discrimination and targeted activation of specific cortical ensembles changes perceptual decisions, as predicted by our readout of the cortical code. Hence, auditory cortex representations contribute to sound discriminations by refining decisions from parallel routes.

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Present address: Dynamic Neuronal Imaging Unit, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France

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