Abstract deliberation by visuomotor neurons in prefrontal cortex.
Nat Neurosci
; 27(6): 1167-1175, 2024 Jun.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38684894
ABSTRACT
During visually guided behavior, the prefrontal cortex plays a pivotal role in mapping sensory inputs onto appropriate motor plans. When the sensory input is ambiguous, this involves deliberation. It is not known whether the deliberation is implemented as a competition between possible stimulus interpretations or between possible motor plans. Here we study neural population activity in the prefrontal cortex of macaque monkeys trained to flexibly report perceptual judgments of ambiguous visual stimuli. We find that the population activity initially represents the formation of a perceptual choice before transitioning into the representation of the motor plan. Stimulus strength and prior expectations both bear on the formation of the perceptual choice, but not on the formation of the action plan. These results suggest that prefrontal circuits involved in action selection are also used for the deliberation of abstract propositions divorced from a specific motor plan, thus providing a crucial mechanism for abstract reasoning.
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Base de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Estimulación Luminosa
/
Desempeño Psicomotor
/
Corteza Prefrontal
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Macaca mulatta
/
Neuronas
Límite:
Animals
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Nat Neurosci
Asunto de la revista:
NEUROLOGIA
Año:
2024
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Estados Unidos
Pais de publicación:
Estados Unidos