Musall, S., Kaufman, M. T., Juavinett, A. L., Gluf, S., Churchland, A. K. (October 2019) Single-trial neural dynamics are dominated by richly varied movements. Nat Neurosci, 22 (10). pp. 1677-1686. ISSN 1097-6256
Abstract
When experts are immersed in a task, do their brains prioritize task-related activity? Most efforts to understand neural activity during well-learned tasks focus on cognitive computations and task-related movements. We wondered whether task-performing animals explore a broader movement landscape and how this impacts neural activity. We characterized movements using video and other sensors and measured neural activity using widefield and two-photon imaging. Cortex-wide activity was dominated by movements, especially uninstructed movements not required for the task. Some uninstructed movements were aligned to trial events. Accounting for them revealed that neurons with similar trial-averaged activity often reflected utterly different combinations of cognitive and movement variables. Other movements occurred idiosyncratically, accounting for trial-by-trial fluctuations that are often considered 'noise'. This held true throughout task-learning and for extracellular Neuropixels recordings that included subcortical areas. Our observations argue that animals execute expert decisions while performing richly varied, uninstructed movements that profoundly shape neural activity.
| Item Type: | Paper |
|---|---|
| Subjects: | organism description > animal organism description > animal behavior organism description > animal behavior > auditory organs, tissues, organelles, cell types and functions > tissues types and functions > cerebral cortex organism description > animal behavior > perception > cognition organism description > animal behavior > decision making organism description > animal > mammal organism description > animal > mammal > rodent > mouse organs, tissues, organelles, cell types and functions organism description > animal behavior > perception organism description > animal > mammal > rodent organs, tissues, organelles, cell types and functions > tissues types and functions |
| CSHL Authors: | |
| Communities: | CSHL labs > Churchland lab |
| Depositing User: | Matthew Dunn |
| Date: | October 2019 |
| Date Deposited: | 26 Sep 2019 16:21 |
| Last Modified: | 02 Feb 2024 19:27 |
| PMCID: | PMC6768091 |
| Related URLs: | |
| URI: | https://repository.cshl.edu/id/eprint/38487 |
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