RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Ventral tegmental area neurons use an ensemble code for representing information about ongoing actions
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 084970
DO 10.1101/084970
A1 Jesse Wood
A1 Nicholas W. Simon
A1 Spencer Koerner
A1 Robert E. Kass
A1 Bita Moghaddam
YR 2016
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2016/11/02/084970.abstract
AB We observed that ensembles of VTA neurons encode information about ongoing behavior in real-time. As rats executed varying numbers of actions to obtain the same reward, the firing rates of different neurons were preferentially tuned to low, medium, or high numbered bins of actions, allowing information about ongoing behavior to be decoded from the ensemble activity. This ensemble code could be used to organize and sustain behavioral responses.