Imaging neuronal responses through all cortical layers and subplate of visual cortex in awake mice with optimized three-photon microscopy

Author(s):  
Murat Yildirim ◽  
Hiroki Sugihara ◽  
Peter T. C. So ◽  
Mriganka Sur
2018 ◽  
Vol 115 (41) ◽  
pp. 10499-10504 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yin Yan ◽  
Li Zhaoping ◽  
Wu Li

Early sensory cortex is better known for representing sensory inputs but less for the effect of its responses on behavior. Here we explore the behavioral correlates of neuronal responses in primary visual cortex (V1) in a task to detect a uniquely oriented bar—the orientation singleton—in a background of uniformly oriented bars. This singleton is salient or inconspicuous when the orientation contrast between the singleton and background bars is sufficiently large or small, respectively. Using implanted microelectrodes, we measured V1 activities while monkeys were trained to quickly saccade to the singleton. A neuron’s responses to the singleton within its receptive field had an early and a late component, both increased with the orientation contrast. The early component started from the outset of neuronal responses; it remained unchanged before and after training on the singleton detection. The late component started ∼40 ms after the early one; it emerged and evolved with practicing the detection task. Training increased the behavioral accuracy and speed of singleton detection and increased the amount of information in the late response component about a singleton’s presence or absence. Furthermore, for a given singleton, faster detection performance was associated with higher V1 responses; training increased this behavioral–neural correlate in the early V1 responses but decreased it in the late V1 responses. Therefore, V1’s early responses are directly linked with behavior and represent the bottom-up saliency signals. Learning strengthens this link, likely serving as the basis for making the detection task more reflexive and less top-down driven.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jackson J. Cone ◽  
Morgan L. Bade ◽  
Nicolas Y. Masse ◽  
Elizabeth A. Page ◽  
David J. Freedman ◽  
...  

AbstractWhenever the retinal image changes some neurons in visual cortex increase their rate of firing, while others decrease their rate of firing. Linking specific sets of neuronal responses with perception and behavior is essential for understanding mechanisms of neural circuit computation. We trained mice to perform visual detection tasks and used optogenetic perturbations to increase or decrease neuronal spiking primary visual cortex (V1). Perceptual reports were always enhanced by increments in V1 spike counts and impaired by decrements, even when increments and decrements were delivered to the same neuronal populations. Moreover, detecting changes in cortical activity depended on spike count integration rather than instantaneous changes in spiking. Recurrent neural networks trained in the task similarly relied on increments in neuronal activity when activity was costly. This work clarifies neuronal decoding strategies employed by cerebral cortex to translate cortical spiking into percepts that can be used to guide behavior.


2019 ◽  
Vol 1725 ◽  
pp. 146462
Author(s):  
A. Ouelhazi ◽  
V. Bharmauria ◽  
N. Chanauria ◽  
L. Bachatene ◽  
R. Lussiez ◽  
...  

2010 ◽  
Vol 104 (2) ◽  
pp. 960-971 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joonyeol Lee ◽  
John H. R. Maunsell

It remains unclear how attention affects the tuning of individual neurons in visual cerebral cortex. Some observations suggest that attention preferentially enhances responses to low contrast stimuli, whereas others suggest that attention proportionally affects responses to all stimuli. Resolving how attention affects responses to different stimuli is essential for understanding the mechanism by which it acts. To explore the effects of attention on stimuli of different contrasts, we recorded from individual neurons in the middle temporal visual area (MT) of rhesus monkeys while shifting their attention between preferred and nonpreferred stimuli within their receptive fields. This configuration results in robust attentional modulation that makes it possible to readily distinguish whether attention acts preferentially on low contrast stimuli. We found no evidence for greater enhancement of low contrast stimuli. Instead, the strong attentional modulations were well explained by a model in which attention proportionally enhances responses to stimuli of all contrasts. These data, together with observations on the effects of attention on responses to other stimulus dimensions, suggest that the primary effect of attention in visual cortex may be to simply increase the strength of responses to all stimuli by the same proportion.


1991 ◽  
Vol 66 (6) ◽  
pp. 2059-2071 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Friauf ◽  
C. J. Shatz

1. The development of excitatory activation in the visual cortex was studied in fetal and neonatal cats. During fetal and neonatal life, the immature cerebral cortex (the cortical plate) is sandwiched between two synaptic zones: the marginal zone above, and an area just below the cortical plate, the subplate. The subplate is transient and disappears by approximately 2 mo postnatal. Here we have investigated whether the subplate and the cortical plate receive functional synaptic inputs in the fetus, and when the adultlike pattern of excitatory synaptic input to the cortical plate appears during development. 2. Extracellular field potential recording to electrical stimulation of the optic radiation was performed in slices of cerebral cortex maintained in vitro. Laminar profiles of field potentials were converted by the current-source density (CSD) method to identify the spatial and temporal distribution of neuronal excitation within the subplate and the cortical plate. 3. Between embryonic day 47 (E47) and postnatal day 28 (P28; birth, E65), age-related changes occur in the pattern of synaptic activation of neurons in the cortical plate and the subplate. Early in development, at E47, E57, and P0, short-latency (probably monosynaptic) excitation is most obvious in the subplate, and longer latency (presumably polysynaptic) excitation can be seen in the cortical plate. Synaptic excitation in the subplate is no longer apparent at P21 and P28, a time when cell migration is finally complete and the cortical layers have formed. By contrast, excitation in the cortical plate is prominent in postnatal animals, and the temporal and spatial pattern has changed. 4. The adultlike sequence of synaptic activation in the different cortical layers can be seen by P28. It differs from earlier ages in several respects. First, short-latency (probably monosynaptic) excitation can be detected in cortical layer 4. Second, multisynaptic, long-lasting activation is present in layers 2/3 and 5. 5. Our results show that the subplate zone, known from anatomic studies to be a synaptic neurophil during development, receives functional excitatory inputs from axons that course in the developing white matter. Because the only mature neurons present in this zone are the subplate neurons, we conclude that subplate neurons are the principal, if not the exclusive, recipients of this input. The results suggest further that the excitation in the subplate in turn is relayed to neurons of the cortical plate via axon collaterals of subplate neurons.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)


2015 ◽  
Vol 35 (39) ◽  
pp. 13419-13429 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Wang ◽  
M. Chen ◽  
Y. Yan ◽  
L. Zhaoping ◽  
W. Li

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document