Spatiotemporal refinement of signal flow through association cortex during learning.

ABSTRACT: Association areas in neocortex encode novel stimulus-outcome relationships, but the principles of their engagement during task learning remain elusive. Using chronic wide-field calcium imaging, we reveal two phases of spatiotemporal refinement of layer 2/3 cortical activity in mice learning whisker-based texture discrimination in the dark. Even before mice reach learning threshold, association cortex-including rostro-lateral (RL), posteromedial (PM), and retrosplenial dorsal (RD) areas-is generally suppressed early during trials (between auditory start cue and whisker-texture touch). As learning proceeds, a spatiotemporal activation sequence builds up, spreading from auditory areas to RL immediately before texture touch (whereas PM and RD remain suppressed) and continuing into barrel corte

SUBMITTER: Gilad A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7142160 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature