Performance in even a simple perceptual task depends on mouse secondary visual areas
Abstract
Primary visual cortex (V1) in the mouse projects to numerous brain areas, including several secondary visual areas, frontal cortex, and basal ganglia. While it has been demonstrated that optogenetic silencing of V1 strongly impairs visually-guided behavior, it is not known which downstream areas are required for visual behaviors. Here we trained mice to perform a contrast-increment change detection task, for which substantial stimulus information is present in V1. Optogenetic silencing of visual responses in secondary visual areas revealed that their activity is required for even this simple visual task. In vivo electrophysiology showed that, although inhibiting secondary visual areas could produce some feedback effects in V1, the principal effect was profound suppression at the location of the optogenetic light. The results show that pathways through secondary visual areas are necessary for even simple visual behaviors.
Data availability
Data with plotting code are available at: https://github.com/histedlab/code-GoldbachAkitake-visareas-simpleperception
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Perceptual changes with optogenetic stimulation of visual areas of the mouseGithub: https://github.com/histedlab/code-GoldbachAkitake-visareas-simpleperception.
Article and author information
Author details
Funding
National Institutes of Health (Intramural Program)
- Mark H Histed
National Institutes of Health (U19NS107464)
- Mark H Histed
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Ethics
Animal experimentation: All procedures were conducted in accordance with the guidelines and regulations of the National Institutes of Health, according to an approved institutional animal care and use committee (IACUC) protocol (UNCB01) of the National Institute of Mental Health Intramural Program.
Copyright
This is an open-access article, free of all copyright, and may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose. The work is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication.
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