A cortical circuit mechanism for structural knowledge-based flexible sensorimotor decision-making

Liu, Yanhe; Xin, Yu; Xu, Ning-long

doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2021.04.014

Cited by 33 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 66 publications

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“…Crucially, our findings indicate that down-stream circuits do not necessarily need to continuously compute reward distributions based on stimulus-outcome associations because this information can be efficiently embedded in the neural codes of early sensory systems. This notion is supported by a recent study showing that functional remapping of stimulus-reward contingencies in early sensory areas causally depends on top-down control signals from prefrontal structures (23, 24, 33). We argue that this gives the organism the advantage of rapidly transmitting behaviorally-relevant information encoded by early sensory systems to downstream circuits specialized in action, learning, or decision-making.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 62%

Neural codes in early sensory areas maximize fitness

Hare

et al. 2021

Preprint

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It has generally been presumed that sensory information encoded by a nervous system should be as accurate as its biological limitations allow. However, perhaps counter intuitively, accurate representations of sensory signals do not necessarily maximize the organism's chances of survival. To test this hypothesis, we developed a unified normative framework for fitness-maximizing encoding by combining theoretical insights from neuroscience, computer science, and economics. Initially, we applied predictions of this model to neural responses from large monopolar cells (LMCs) in the blowfly retina. We found that neural codes that maximize reward expectation---and not accurate sensory representations---account for retinal LMC activity. We also conducted experiments in humans and find that early sensory areas flexibly adopt neural codes that promote fitness maximization in a retinotopically-specific manner, which impacted decision behavior. Thus, our results provide evidence that fitness-maximizing rules imposed by the environment are applied at the earliest stages of sensory processing.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 62%

Neural codes in early sensory areas maximize fitness

Hare

et al. 2021

Preprint

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“…Although SOM interneurons were modulated by choice behavior, the choice information encoded in SOM interneurons may not directly be transmitted to local populations, since photoinhibition of SOM interneurons did not significantly affect the choice coding of local cortical neurons ( Figure S4 ). The choice information in auditory cortical neurons is more likely to be originated from higher order cortical regions (Liu et al, 2021; Zhong et al, 2019).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Somatostatin interneurons in auditory cortex regulate sensory representations and contribute to auditory perception

Chai

Zhang

Xin

et al. 2022

Preprint

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As a major class of inhibitory neurons in the mammalian neocortex, somatostatin (SOM)-expressing GABAergic interneurons receive diverse inputs and target multiple types of local cortical neurons, representing a critical circuit component. Yet, the precise contribution of SOM interneurons to cortical circuit function and behavioral performance remains unclear. Here we address this using cell-type specific imaging and perturbation during an auditory perceptual decision task. Two-photon calcium imaging reveals that SOM interneurons exhibit task enhanced responses and stimulus category selectivity. Simultaneous optogenetic inactivation and two-photon imaging show that SOM interneurons exert divergent effects of either sharpening the sensory tuning or scaling down the tuning peak on different proportions of auditory cortical neurons. At behavioral level, inactivation of SOM interneurons reveals a specific contribution to perceptual discriminability. Our data delineate the role of SOM interneurons in cortical processing and auditory perception, linking cell-type specific cortical circuit computations with perceptual functions.

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“…For instance, a pioneering study demonstrated that rats are exceedingly sensitive to changes in reward rates, approximating an ideal observer (Gallistel et al 2001). Moreover, several studies using a variety of timing, operant conditioning, decision, and sensory categorization tasks have found neural and behavioral data consistent with the use of belief in rodents (Karlsson, Tervo, and Karpova 2012;Li and Dudman 2013;Liu et al 2021;Starkweather et al 2017;Vertechi et al 2020). However, these prior studies are different because in some cases, the use of belief did not necessarily confer better performance over other strategies for the task (Starkweather et al 2017).…”

Section: Medial Frontal Cortex Impacts the Decisions During Action Se...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Namely, primates can exploit predictable structure in a task and adjust for an impending change point (Bartolo and Averbeck 2020; Jang et al 2019; Costa et al 2015). Indeed, under a few select situations, rodents also seem to make inferences about hidden states (Liu, Xin, and Xu 2021; Vertechi et al 2020; Starkweather, Gershman, and Uchida 2018). These recent results hint at the possibility that mice may leverage their knowledge of task structure for probabilistic reward learning.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Change point estimation by the mouse medial frontal cortex during probabilistic reward learning

Atilgan

Murphy

Wang

et al. 2022

Preprint

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SummaryThere are often sudden changes in the state of environment. For a decision maker, accurate prediction and detection of change points are crucial for optimizing performance. Still unclear, however, is whether rodents are simply reactive to reinforcements, or if they can be proactive to estimate future change points during value-based decision making. In this study, we characterize head-fixed mice performing a two-armed bandit task with probabilistic reward reversals. Choice behavior deviates from classic reinforcement learning, but instead suggests a strategy involving belief updating, consistent with the anticipation of change points to exploit the task structure. Excitotoxic lesion and optogenetic inactivation implicate the anterior cingulate and premotor regions of medial frontal cortex. Specifically, over-estimation of hazard rate arises from imbalance across frontal hemispheres during the time window before the choice is made. Collectively, the results demonstrate that mice can capitalize on their knowledge of task regularities, and this estimation of future changes in the environment may be a main computational function of the rodent dorsal medial frontal cortex.

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A cortical circuit mechanism for structural knowledge-based flexible sensorimotor decision-making

Cited by 33 publications

References 66 publications

Neural codes in early sensory areas maximize fitness

Neural codes in early sensory areas maximize fitness

Somatostatin interneurons in auditory cortex regulate sensory representations and contribute to auditory perception

Change point estimation by the mouse medial frontal cortex during probabilistic reward learning

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