Decoupled choice-driven and stimulus-related activity in parietal neurons may be misrepresented by choice probabilities.

ABSTRACT: Trial-by-trial correlations between neural responses and choices (choice probabilities) are often interpreted to reflect a causal contribution of neurons to task performance. However, choice probabilities may arise from top-down, rather than bottom-up, signals. We isolated distinct sensory and decision contributions to single-unit activity recorded from the dorsal medial superior temporal (MSTd) and ventral intraparietal (VIP) areas of monkeys during perception of self-motion. Superficially, neurons in both areas show similar tuning curves during task performance. However, tuning in MSTd neurons primarily reflects sensory inputs, whereas choice-related signals dominate tuning in VIP neurons. Importantly, the choice-related activity of VIP neurons is not predictable from their stimulus tuni

SUBMITTER: Zaidel A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5620044 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature