Pesaran Bijan, Nelson Matthew J, Andersen Richard A
Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York, New York 10003, USA.
Nature. 2008 May 15;453(7193):406-9. doi: 10.1038/nature06849. Epub 2008 Apr 16.
We often face alternatives that we are free to choose between. Planning movements to select an alternative involves several areas in frontal and parietal cortex that are anatomically connected into long-range circuits. These areas must coordinate their activity to select a common movement goal, but how neural circuits make decisions remains poorly understood. Here we simultaneously record from the dorsal premotor area (PMd) in frontal cortex and the parietal reach region (PRR) in parietal cortex to investigate neural circuit mechanisms for decision making. We find that correlations in spike and local field potential (LFP) activity between these areas are greater when monkeys are freely making choices than when they are following instructions. We propose that a decision circuit featuring a sub-population of cells in frontal and parietal cortex may exchange information to coordinate activity between these areas. Cells participating in this decision circuit may influence movement choices by providing a common bias to the selection of movement goals.
我们常常面临可供自由选择的多种选项。规划动作以选择其中一个选项涉及额叶和顶叶皮质中的几个区域,这些区域在解剖学上连接成远程回路。这些区域必须协调它们的活动以选择一个共同的运动目标,但神经回路如何做出决策仍知之甚少。在这里,我们同时记录额叶皮质中的背侧运动前区(PMd)和顶叶皮质中的顶叶伸手区域(PRR),以研究决策的神经回路机制。我们发现,与猴子遵循指令时相比,当它们自由做出选择时,这些区域之间的尖峰和局部场电位(LFP)活动的相关性更强。我们提出,一个以额叶和顶叶皮质中的细胞亚群为特征的决策回路可能会交换信息,以协调这些区域之间的活动。参与这个决策回路的细胞可能通过为运动目标的选择提供共同的偏差来影响运动选择。