Dissociation of choice formation and choice-correlated activity in macaque visual cortex

R L T Goris, C M Ziemba, G M Stine, E P Simoncelli and J A Movshon

Published in J. Neuroscience, Apr 2017.

DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3331-16.2017

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  • Responses of individual task-relevant sensory neurons can predict monkeys' trial-by-trial choices in perceptual decision-making tasks. Choice-correlated activity has been interpreted as evidence that the responses of these neurons are causally linked to perceptual judgments. To further test this hypothesis, we studied responses of orientation-selective neurons in V1 and V2 while two macaque monkeys performed a fine orientation discrimination task. Although both animals exhibited a high level of neuronal and behavioral sensitivity, only one exhibited choice-correlated activity. Surprisingly, this correlation was negative: when a neuron fired more vigorously, the animal was less likely to choose the orientation preferred by that neuron. Moreover, choice-correlated activity emerged late in the trial, earlier in V2 than in V1, and was correlated with anticipatory signals. Together, these results suggest that choice-correlated activity in task-relevant sensory neurons can reflect postdecision modulatory signals.
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