title: Visual Stimulus Detection Correlates with the Consistency of Temporal Sequences within Stereotyped Events of V1 Neuronal Population Activity.
abstract: Sensory information about the world is translated into rate codes, such that modulations in mean spiking activity of neurons relate to differences in stimulus features. More recently, it has been proposed that also temporal properties of activity, such as assembly formation and sequential population activation, are important for understanding the relation between neuronal activity and behavioral output. These phenomena appear to be robust properties of neural circuits, but their relevance for perceptual judgments, such as the behavioral detection of stimuli, remains to be tested. Studying neuronal activity with two-photon calcium imaging in primary visual cortex of mice performing a go/no-go visual detection task, we found that assemblies (i.e., configurations of neuronal group activity) reliably recur, as defined using Ward-method clustering. However, population activation events with a recurring configuration of core neurons did not appear to serve a particular function in the coding of orientation or the detection of stimuli. Instead, we found that, regardless of whether the population event showed a recurring or nonrecurring configuration of neurons, the sequence of cluster activation was correlated with the detection of stimuli. Moreover, each neuron showed a preferred temporal position of activation within population events, which was robust despite varying neuronal participation. Furthermore, the timing of neuronal activity within such a sequence was more consistent when a stimulus was detected (hits) than when it remained unreported (misses). Our data indicate that neural processing of information related to visual detection behavior depends on the temporal positioning of individual and group-wise cell activity.
  
  
  
  Temporally coactive neurons have been hypothesized to form functional assemblies that might subserve different functions in the brain, but many of these proposed functions have not yet been experimentally tested. We used two-photon calcium imaging in V1 of mice performing a stimulus detection task to study the relation of assembly activity to the behavioral detection of visual stimuli. We found that the presence of recurring assemblies per se was not correlated with behavior, and these assemblies did not appear to serve a function in the coding of stimulus orientation. Instead, we found that activity in V1 is characterized by population events of varying membership, within which the consistency of the temporal sequence of neuronal activation is correlated with stimulus detection.
authors.affiliation: Swammerdam Institute for Life Sciences, Center for Neuroscience, Faculty of Science, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam 1098XH, The Netherlands, and jorritmontijn@gmail.com c.m.a.pennartz@uva.nl.
authors.forename: Jorrit S
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-5621-090X
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Montijn
authors.affiliation: Swammerdam Institute for Life Sciences, Center for Neuroscience, Faculty of Science, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam 1098XH, The Netherlands, and.
authors.forename: Umberto
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Olcese
authors.affiliation: Swammerdam Institute for Life Sciences, Center for Neuroscience, Faculty of Science, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam 1098XH, The Netherlands, and Research Priority Program Brain and Cognition, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam 1098XH, The Netherlands jorritmontijn@gmail.com c.m.a.pennartz@uva.nl.
authors.forename: Cyriel M A
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-8328-1175
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Pennartz
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002118:Calcium / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D009930:Organic Chemicals / Q000378:metabolism; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011336:Probability; D012235:Rhodamines / Q000494:pharmacology; D017603:Signal Detection, Psychological; D013997:Time Factors; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000166:cytology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D014868:Water Deprivation
chemical_list: C403124:Oregon Green BAPTA-dextran; D009930:Organic Chemicals; D012235:Rhodamines; C050829:sulforhodamine 101; D002118:Calcium
keywords: calcium imaging; mouse; population codes; stimulus detection; temporal sequences; vision