The role of higher order thalamus during learning and correct performance in goal-directed behavior

Abstract
Data availability
Article and author information
Metrics

Abstract

The thalamus is a gateway to the cortex. Cortical encoding of complex behavior can therefore only be understood by considering the thalamic processing of sensory and internally-generated information. Here, we use two-photon Ca²⁺ imaging and optogenetics to investigate the role of axonal projections from the posteromedial nucleus of the thalamus (POm) to the forepaw area of the mouse primary somatosensory cortex (forepaw S1). By recording the activity of POm axonal projections within forepaw S1 during expert and chance performance in two tactile goal-directed tasks, we demonstrate that POm axons increase activity in the response and, to a lesser extent, reward epochs specifically during correct HIT performance. When performing at chance level during learning of a new behavior, POm axonal activity was decreased to naïve rates and did not correlate with task performance. However, once evoked, the Ca²⁺ transients were larger than during expert performance, suggesting POm input to S1 differentially encodes chance and expert performance. Furthermore, the POm influences goal-directed behavior, as photo-inactivation of archaerhodopsin-expressing neurons in the POm decreased the learning rate and overall success in the behavioral task. Taken together, these findings expand the known roles of the higher-thalamic nuclei, illustrating the POm encodes and influences correct action during learning and performance in a sensory-based goal-directed behavior.

Data availability

The source code for the behavioral system can be found online at https://github.com/palmerlab/behaviour_box, as well as additional documentation at https://palmerlab.github.io. Calcium imaging data is available on Dryad doi:10.5061/dryad.1rn8pk0wb.

The following data sets were generated

1. Palmer L
2. et al
(2022) Data from: The role of higher order thalamus during learning and correct performance in goal-directed behavior
Dryad Digital Repository,doi:10.5061/dryad.1rn8pk0wb.

http://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.1rn8pk0wb
1. Palmer L
(2017) The role of higher order thalamus during learning and correct performance in goal-directed behavior
GitHub.

https://github.com/palmerlab/behaviour_box

Article and author information

Author details

Danilo La Terra

Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
Marius Rosier

Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
Ann-Sofie Bjerre

Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
Rei Masuda

Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
Tomás J Ryan

Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
Lucy Maree Palmer

Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia

For correspondence
lucy.palmer@florey.edu.au

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

"This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0003-3676-657X

Funding

National Health and Medical Research Council (APP1086082)

Lucy Maree Palmer

National Health and Medical Research Council (APP1063533)

Lucy Maree Palmer

National Health and Medical Research Council (APP1085708)

Lucy Maree Palmer

Australian Respiratory Council (DP160103047)

Lucy Maree Palmer

Sylvia and Charles Viertel Charitable Foundation

Lucy Maree Palmer

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 approved by the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health Animal Care and Ethics Committee and followed the guidelines of the Australian Code of Practice for the Care and Use of Animals for Scientific Purpose

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.