Neuronal correlates of decision-making in secondary somatosensory cortex

Romo, R., Hernandez, A., Zainos, A., Lemus, L., Brody, C. D. (November 2002) Neuronal correlates of decision-making in secondary somatosensory cortex. Nature Neuroscience, 5 (11). pp. 1217-1225. ISSN 1097-6256

Abstract

The ability to discriminate between two sequential stimuli requires evaluation of current sensory information in reference to stored information. Where and how does this evaluation occur? We trained monkeys to compare two mechanical vibrations applied sequentially to the fingertips and to report which of the two had the higher frequency. We recorded single neurons in secondary somatosensory cortex (S2) while the monkeys performed the task. During the first stimulus period, the firing rate of S2 neurons encoded the stimulus frequency. During the second stimulus period, however, some S2 neurons did not merely encode the stimulus frequency. The responses of these neurons were a function of both the remembered (first) and current (second) stimulus. Moreover, a few hundred milliseconds after the presentation of the second stimulus, these responses were correlated with the monkey's decision. This suggests that some S2 neurons may combine past and present sensory information for decision-making.

Item Type: Paper
Subjects: organism description > animal behavior > decision making
organs, tissues, organelles, cell types and functions > tissues types and functions > somatosensory cortex
CSHL Authors:
Communities: CSHL labs > Brody lab
Depositing User: Matt Covey
Date: November 2002
Date Deposited: 31 Oct 2013 15:28
Last Modified: 31 Oct 2013 15:28
Related URLs:
URI: https://repository.cshl.edu/id/eprint/28777

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