Open AccessPrefrontal cortex exhibits multidimensional dynamic encoding during decision-making
Author(s) -
Mikio C. Aoi,
Valerio Mante,
Jonathan W. Pillow
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
nature neuroscience
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 13.403
H-Index - 422
eISSN - 1546-1726
pISSN - 1097-6256
DOI - 10.1038/s41593-020-0696-5
Subject(s) - prefrontal cortex , stimulus (psychology) , neuroscience , sensory system , perception , population , decoding methods , computer science , neurophysiology , context (archaeology) , encoding (memory) , psychology , cognitive psychology , cognition , biology , algorithm , paleontology , demography , sociology
Recent work has suggested that the prefrontal cortex (PFC) plays a key role in context-dependent perceptual decision-making. In this study, we addressed that role using a new method for identifying task-relevant dimensions of neural population activity. Specifically, we show that the PFC has a multidimensional code for context, decisions and both relevant and irrelevant sensory information. Moreover, these representations evolve in time, with an early linear accumulation phase followed by a phase with rotational dynamics. We identify the dimensions of neural activity associated with these phases and show that they do not arise from distinct populations but from a single population with broad tuning characteristics. Finally, we use model-based decoding to show that the transition from linear to rotational dynamics coincides with a plateau in decoding accuracy, revealing that rotational dynamics in the PFC preserve sensory choice information for the duration of the stimulus integration period.