Sensory integration across space and in time for decision making in the somatosensory system of rodents.
Environment is represented in the brain by a neural code that is a result of the spatiotemporal pattern of incoming sensory information. Sensory neurons encode inputs across space and in time such that activity of a given cell inhibits the ability of near-simultaneously arriving sensory stimuli to excite the cell. At the behavioral level, consequences of such suppression are unknown. We investigated the contribution of spatially distributed, near-simultaneous sensory inputs to decision making in a whisker-dependent learning task. Mice learned the task with a single whisker or multiple whiskers alike. Both groups of mice had similar learning curves and final success rates. However, multiple-whisker animals had faster response times than single-whisker mice, requiring only about half the time to perform the task successfully. The results show that spatially distributed sensory inputs in a highly redundant sensory environment improve speed but not accuracy of the decisions made during simple sensory detection. Suppression of the near-simultaneous sensory inputs could, therefore, act to reduce the sensory redundancy.
Celikel
Tansu
T
Department of Cell Physiology, Max Planck Institute for Medical Research, Jahnstrasse 29, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany. tansu.celikel@mpimf-heidelberg.mpg.de
Sakmann
Bert
B
D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D013003:Somatosensory Cortex / Q000502:physiology*