RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Flexible neural coding in sensory, parietal, and frontal cortices during goal-directed virtual navigation
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 2021.10.22.465526
DO 10.1101/2021.10.22.465526
A1 Jean-Paul Noel
A1 Edoardo Balzani
A1 Eric Avila
A1 Kaushik Lakshminarasimhan
A1 Stefania Bruni
A1 Panos Alefantis
A1 Cristina Savin
A1 Dora E. Angelaki
YR 2021
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/10/24/2021.10.22.465526.abstract
AB We do not understand how neural nodes operate within the recurrent action-perception loops that characterize naturalistic self-environment interactions, nor how brain networks reconfigure during changing computational demands. Here, we record local field potentials (LFPs) and spiking activity simultaneously from the dorsomedial superior temporal area (MSTd), parietal area 7a, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) as monkeys navigate in virtual reality to “catch fireflies”. This task requires animals to actively sample from a closed-loop visual environment while concurrently computing latent variables: the evolving distance and angle to a memorized firefly. We observed mixed selectivity in all areas, with even a traditionally sensory area (MSTd) tracking latent variables. Strikingly, global encoding profiles and unit-to-unit coupling suggested a functional subnetwork between MSTd and dlPFC, and not between these are 7a, as anatomy would suggest. When sensory evidence was rendered scarce, lateral connectivity through neuron-to-neuron coupling within MSTd strengthened but its pattern remains fixed, while neuronal coupling adaptively remapped within 7a and dlPFC. The larger the remapping in 7a/dlPFC and the greater the stability within MSTd, the less was behavior impacted by loss of sensory evidence. These results highlight the distributed nature of neural coding during closed-loop action- perception naturalistic behaviors and suggest internal models may be housed in the pattern of fine-grain lateral connectivity within parietal and frontal cortices.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.