Functional links between sensory representations, choice activity, and sensorimotor associations in parietal cortex

  1. Ting-Yu Chang
  2. Raymond Doudlah
  3. Byounghoon Kim
  4. Adhira Sunkara
  5. Lowell W Thompson
  6. Meghan E Lowe
  7. Ari Rosenberg  Is a corresponding author
  1. University of Wisconsin - Madison, United States
  2. WiSys Technology Foundation, United States

Abstract

Three-dimensional (3D) representations of the environment are often critical for selecting actions that achieve desired goals. The success of these goal-directed actions relies on 3D sensorimotor transformations that are experience-dependent. Here we investigated the relationships between the robustness of 3D visual representations, choice-related activity, and motor-related activity in parietal cortex. Macaque monkeys performed an eight-alternative 3D orientation discrimination task and a visually guided saccade task while we recorded from the caudal intraparietal area using laminar probes. We found that neurons with more robust 3D visual representations preferentially carried choice-related activity. Following the onset of choice-related activity, the robustness of the 3D representations further increased for those neurons. We additionally found that 3D orientation and saccade direction preferences aligned, particularly for neurons with choice-related activity, reflecting an experience-dependent sensorimotor association. These findings reveal previously unrecognized links between the fidelity of ecologically relevant object representations, choice-related activity, and motor-related activity.

Data availability

All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in the manuscript and supporting files.

Article and author information

Author details

  1. Ting-Yu Chang

    Neuroscience, University of Wisconsin - Madison, Madison, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0003-3964-0905
  2. Raymond Doudlah

    Neuroscience, University of Wisconsin - Madison, Madison, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  3. Byounghoon Kim

    Neuroscience, University of Wisconsin - Madison, Madison, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0001-7159-5134
  4. Adhira Sunkara

    WiSys Technology Foundation, Madison, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  5. Lowell W Thompson

    Neuroscience, University of Wisconsin - Madison, Madison, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  6. Meghan E Lowe

    Neuroscience, University of Wisconsin - Madison, Madison, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  7. Ari Rosenberg

    Neuroscience, University of Wisconsin - Madison, Madison, United States
    For correspondence
    ari.rosenberg@wisc.edu
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-8606-2987

Funding

Alfred P. Sloan Foundation (FG-2016-6468)

  • Ari Rosenberg

Whitehall Foundation (2016-08-18)

  • Ari Rosenberg

Greater Milwaukee Foundation (Shaw Scientist Award)

  • Ari Rosenberg

National Institutes of Health (EY029438)

  • Ari Rosenberg

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 of the National Institutes of Health's Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals. All experimental procedures and surgeries were approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (Protocol #: G005229).

Reviewing Editor

  1. David J Freedman, The University of Chicago, United States

Publication history

  1. Received: April 16, 2020
  2. Accepted: October 19, 2020
  3. Accepted Manuscript published: October 20, 2020 (version 1)
  4. Version of Record published: November 4, 2020 (version 2)

Copyright

© 2020, Chang et al.

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.

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  1. Ting-Yu Chang
  2. Raymond Doudlah
  3. Byounghoon Kim
  4. Adhira Sunkara
  5. Lowell W Thompson
  6. Meghan E Lowe
  7. Ari Rosenberg
(2020)
Functional links between sensory representations, choice activity, and sensorimotor associations in parietal cortex
eLife 9:e57968.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.57968

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