Piet Alex T, Erlich Jeffrey C, Kopec Charles D, Brody Carlos D
Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, U.S.A.
NYU-ECNU Institute of Brain and Cognitive Science, New York University Shanghai, Shanghai 200122, China
Neural Comput. 2017 Nov;29(11):2861-2886. doi: 10.1162/neco_a_01005. Epub 2017 Aug 4.
Two-node attractor networks are flexible models for neural activity during decision making. Depending on the network configuration, these networks can model distinct aspects of decisions including evidence integration, evidence categorization, and decision memory. Here, we use attractor networks to model recent causal perturbations of the frontal orienting fields (FOF) in rat cortex during a perceptual decision-making task (Erlich, Brunton, Duan, Hanks, & Brody, 2015 ). We focus on a striking feature of the perturbation results. Pharmacological silencing of the FOF resulted in a stimulus-independent bias. We fit several models to test whether integration, categorization, or decision memory could account for this bias and found that only the memory configuration successfully accounts for it. This memory model naturally accounts for optogenetic perturbations of FOF in the same task and correctly predicts a memory-duration-dependent deficit caused by silencing FOF in a different task. Our results provide mechanistic support for a "postcategorization" memory role of the FOF in upcoming choices.
双节点吸引子网络是决策过程中神经活动的灵活模型。根据网络配置，这些网络可以模拟决策的不同方面，包括证据整合、证据分类和决策记忆。在此，我们使用吸引子网络来模拟大鼠皮层在感知决策任务期间额叶定向场（FOF）最近的因果扰动（Erlich、Brunton、Duan、Hanks和Brody，2015年）。我们关注扰动结果的一个显著特征。FOF的药理学沉默导致了一种与刺激无关的偏差。我们拟合了几个模型来测试整合、分类或决策记忆是否可以解释这种偏差，结果发现只有记忆配置能够成功解释它。这个记忆模型自然地解释了同一任务中FOF的光遗传学扰动，并正确预测了在不同任务中沉默FOF所导致的与记忆持续时间相关的缺陷。我们的结果为FOF在即将到来的选择中“分类后”的记忆作用提供了机制支持。
