Abstract
Sensorimotor processing occurs in a highly distributed manner in the mammalian neocortex. The spatiotemporal dynamics of electrical activity in the dorsal mouse neocortex can be imaged using voltage-sensitive dyes (VSDs) with near-millisecond temporal resolution and [Formula: see text] spatial resolution. Here, we trained mice to lick a water reward spout after a 1-ms deflection of the C2 whisker, and we imaged cortical dynamics during task execution with VSD RH1691. Responses to whisker deflection were highly dynamic and spatially highly distributed, exhibiting high variability from trial to trial in amplitude and spatiotemporal dynamics. We differentiated trials based on licking and whisking behavior. Hit trials, in which the mouse licked after the whisker stimulus, were accompanied by overall greater depolarization compared to miss trials, with the strongest hit versus miss differences being found in frontal cortex. Prestimulus whisking decreased behavioral performance by increasing the fraction of miss trials, and these miss trials had attenuated cortical sensorimotor responses. Our data suggest that the spatiotemporal dynamics of depolarization in mouse sensorimotor cortex evoked by a single brief whisker deflection are subject to important behavioral modulation during the execution of a simple, learned, goal-directed sensorimotor transformation.
Highlights
Learned behaviors typically involve context-dependent processing of sensory information based on current motivation and previous experience to convert the sensory information into a useful motor output
Water-scheduled mice were trained to lick a water-reward spout in response to a C2 whisker deflection evoked by a 1-ms magnetic pulse acting on iron particles attached to the C2 whisker
voltagesensitive dyes (VSDs) fluorescence was imaged with 2-ms frame rates, and we found that the spatiotemporal ΔF∕F0 responses were highly variable from trial to trial [Fig. 1(c)]
Summary
Learned behaviors typically involve context-dependent processing of sensory information based on current motivation and previous experience to convert the sensory information into a useful motor output Such learned, goal-directed sensorimotor transformations are likely to involve multiple brain areas, including the participation of distinct regions of the neocortex. Kyriakatos et al.: Voltage-sensitive dye imaging of mouse neocortex during a whisker detection task whisker-dependent detection tasks have found task-dependent correlations in action potential firing and membrane potential dynamics of individual neocortical neurons recorded in S133–36 and M1,37 as well as in striatal projection neurons.[38] Inactivation of S1 disrupts behavioral performance in whisker-detection tasks, reducing hit rates.[33,34,39] Stimulation of S1 readily substitutes for whisker stimulation in learning and execution of this task.[33] S1 appears to play a critical role in the sensorimotor transformation of whisker stimulus into licking motor output. Our results suggest highly distributed sensorimotor processing that depended strongly upon whisking and licking during task performance
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