Abstract
We used two-photon microscopy to study the role of ensembles of cerebellar molecular layer interneurons (MLIs) in a go-no go task where mice obtain a sugar water reward if they lick a spout in the presence of the rewarded odorant and avoid punishment when they restrain from licking for the unrewarded odorant. When the animal was naïve to the valence of the stimulus (is the odorant rewarded?) responses of the MLIs did not differ between odorants. However, as the animal became proficient, the rewarded odorant elicited a large increase in Ca2+ in MLIs, and the identity of the odorant could be decoded from the differential response. Importantly, MLIs switched odorant responses when the valence of the stimuli was reversed. Finally, licks diverged more slowly and mice did not become proficient when MLIs were inhibited by chemogenetic intervention. Our findings support a role for MLIs in learning valence in the cerebellum.








