Initial conditions combine with sensory evidence to induce decision-related dynamics in premotor cortex

We used a dynamical systems perspective to understand decision-related neural activity, a fundamentally unresolved problem. This perspective posits that time-varying neural activity is described by a state equation with an initial condition and evolves in time by combining at each time step, recurre...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Nature communications Vol. 14; no. 1; p. 6510
Main Authors:	Boucher, Pierre O., Wang, Tian, Carceroni, Laura, Kane, Gary, Shenoy, Krishna V., Chandrasekaran, Chandramouli
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	London Nature Publishing Group UK 16-10-2023 Nature Publishing Group Nature Portfolio
Subjects:	631/378/116/2393 631/378/2629/1409 631/378/2632/2635 631/378/2649/1409 Cortex (premotor) Decision making Decisions Dynamical systems Dynamics Equations of state Humanities and Social Sciences Initial conditions Mental task performance Motor Cortex - physiology multidisciplinary Neurons - physiology Science Science (multidisciplinary) Somatosensory cortex
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Summary:	We used a dynamical systems perspective to understand decision-related neural activity, a fundamentally unresolved problem. This perspective posits that time-varying neural activity is described by a state equation with an initial condition and evolves in time by combining at each time step, recurrent activity and inputs. We hypothesized various dynamical mechanisms of decisions, simulated them in models to derive predictions, and evaluated these predictions by examining firing rates of neurons in the dorsal premotor cortex (PMd) of monkeys performing a perceptual decision-making task. Prestimulus neural activity (i.e., the initial condition) predicted poststimulus neural trajectories, covaried with RT and the outcome of the previous trial, but not with choice. Poststimulus dynamics depended on both the sensory evidence and initial condition, with easier stimuli and fast initial conditions leading to the fastest choice-related dynamics. Together, these results suggest that initial conditions combine with sensory evidence to induce decision-related dynamics in PMd. It remains unclear why some decisions take longer than others even when the sensory inputs are similar. Here, the authors show that both initial neural state and sensory input combine in the premotor cortex to influence the speed and geometry of neural population activity during decisions.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	2041-1723 2041-1723
DOI:	10.1038/s41467-023-41752-2