Task-dependent recurrent dynamics in visual cortex

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Abstract

The capacity for flexible sensory-action association in animals has been related to context-dependent attractor dynamics outside the sensory cortices. Here we report a line of evidence that flexibly modulated attractor dynamics during task switching are already present in the higher visual cortex in macaque monkeys. With a nonlinear decoding approach, we can extract the particular aspect of the neural population response that reflects the task-induced emergence of bistable attractor dynamics in a neural population, which could be obscured by standard unsupervised dimensionality reductions such as PCA. The dynamical modulation selectively increases the information relevant to task demands, indicating that such modulation is beneficial for perceptual decisions. A computational model that features nonlinear recurrent interaction among neurons with a task-dependent background input replicates the key properties observed in the experimental data. These results suggest that the context-dependent attractor dynamics involving the sensory cortex can underlie flexible perceptual abilities.

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Satohiro Tajima

Department of Basic Neuroscience, University of Geneva, Genève, Switzerland

For correspondence
satohiro.tajima@gmail.com

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

"This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-9597-1381
Kowa Koida

EIIRIS, Toyohashi University of Technology, Toyohashi, Japan

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
Chihiro I Tajima

Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
Hideyuki Suzuki

Department of Information and Physical Sciences, Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, Osaka University, Suita, Japan

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
Kazuyuki Aihara

Institute of Industrial Science, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

"This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-4602-9816
Hidehiko Komatsu

National Institute for Physiological Sciences, Aichi, Japan

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

Funding

Japan Science and Technology Agency (PRESTO)

Satohiro Tajima

Japan Science and Technology Agency (CREST)

Kazuyuki Aihara

Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (KAKENHI 15H05707)

Kazuyuki Aihara

Japan Science and Technology Agency (Center of Innovation Program from Japan)

Hidehiko Komatsu

The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.

Ethics

Animal experimentation: This study was performed in strict accordance with the recommendations in the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals of the National Institutes of Health. All of the animals were handled according to approved institutional animal care and use committee (IACUC) protocols of the Okazaki National Research Institutes. The protocol was approved by the Animal Experiment Committee of the Okazaki National Research Institutes (Permit Number: A16-86-29). All surgery was performed under sodium pentobarbital anesthesia, and every effort was made to minimize suffering.

Copyright

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.