Stimulus-dependent relationships between behavioral choice and sensory neural responses

eLife

Ralf M Haefner¹  Stefano Panzeri²  Daniel Chicharro³ 

[1] Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Center for Visual Science, University of Rochester, Rochester, United States;Neural Computation Laboratory, Center for Neuroscience and Cognitive Systems@UniTn, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Rovereto, Italy;Neural Computation Laboratory, Center for Neuroscience and Cognitive Systems@UniTn, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Rovereto, Italy;Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, United States;

关键词: sensory neurons;    perceptual decision-making;    choice probability;    neural coding;    Rhesus macaque;   

DOI  :  10.7554/eLife.54858

来源: eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd

【 摘 要 】

Understanding perceptual decision-making requires linking sensory neural responses to behavioral choices. In two-choice tasks, activity-choice covariations are commonly quantified with a single measure of choice probability (CP), without characterizing their changes across stimulus levels. We provide theoretical conditions for stimulus dependencies of activity-choice covariations. Assuming a general decision-threshold model, which comprises both feedforward and feedback processing and allows for a stimulus-modulated neural population covariance, we analytically predict a very general and previously unreported stimulus dependence of CPs. We develop new tools, including refined analyses of CPs and generalized linear models with stimulus-choice interactions, which accurately assess the stimulus- or choice-driven signals of each neuron, characterizing stimulus-dependent patterns of choice-related signals. With these tools, we analyze CPs of macaque MT neurons during a motion discrimination task. Our analysis provides preliminary empirical evidence for the promise of studying stimulus dependencies of choice-related signals, encouraging further assessment in wider data sets.

【 授权许可】

CC BY