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A perceptual decision requires sensory but not action coding in mouse cortex

View ORCID ProfilePeter Zatka-Haas, View ORCID ProfileNicholas A. Steinmetz, View ORCID ProfileMatteo Carandini, View ORCID ProfileKenneth D. Harris
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/501627
Peter Zatka-Haas
1UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK
3Department of Physiology, Anatomy & Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PT, UK
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  • ORCID record for Peter Zatka-Haas
Nicholas A. Steinmetz
1UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK
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Matteo Carandini
2UCL Institute of Ophthalmology, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK
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Kenneth D. Harris
1UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK
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  • For correspondence: kenneth.harris@ucl.ac.uk
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Abstract

Sensory decisions involve multiple cortical areas, but it is unclear to what extent these areas carry distinct signals and play causal roles. We trained head-fixed mice to discriminate visual contrast and report their decision by turning a wheel. Widefield calcium imaging and Neuropixels recordings revealed stimulus-related activity in visual (VIS) and secondary motor (MOs) areas, and widespread movement-related activity across the dorsal cortex. Optogenetic inactivation biased choices only when it was targeted at VIS and MOs, at times corresponding to peak stimulus decoding. A neurometric model based on summing and subtracting activity in VIS and MOs successfully described performance, and predicted the effect of optogenetic inactivation. Thus, sensory signals in VIS and MOs are causally necessary for task performance, while diffuse cortical signals encoding movement do not play a causal role in the animals’ choice.

Competing Interest Statement

The authors have declared no competing interest.

Copyright 
The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY-NC 4.0 International license.
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Posted April 11, 2020.
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A perceptual decision requires sensory but not action coding in mouse cortex
Peter Zatka-Haas, Nicholas A. Steinmetz, Matteo Carandini, Kenneth D. Harris
bioRxiv 501627; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/501627
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A perceptual decision requires sensory but not action coding in mouse cortex
Peter Zatka-Haas, Nicholas A. Steinmetz, Matteo Carandini, Kenneth D. Harris
bioRxiv 501627; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/501627

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