Gielow Matthew R, Headley Drew B, Herzallah Mohammad M, Paré Denis
Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience, Rutgers University, Newark, New Jersey 07102.
Palestinian Neuroscience Initiative, Al-Quds University, Jerusalem, Palestine.
J Neurosci. 2025 Feb 12;45(7):e2003232024. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2003-23.2024.
We aimed to identify the neuronal correlates of performance errors in a difficult timing task. Male rats were trained to seek rewards and avoid shocks depending on the position of photic conditioned stimuli (CS-R and CS-S, respectively). Then, they were exposed to conflict trials where they had to time the interval between the CS-R and CS-S to obtain rewards while avoiding footshocks. There were pronounced individual differences in behavioral strategies on conflict trials. When presented with a CS-S, some rats quickly left the shock sector, forsaking the option of earning a reward, and rarely got shocked. Others earned rewards by delaying avoidance based on the interval between the CS-R and CS-S but were shocked more often. The probability rats would fail a given trial was not stable across trials as rats engaged in incorrect trial runs that were longer than expected by chance. Since this finding suggested that rats shift between two quasi-stable processing modes, we next examined the neuronal correlates of errors. Incorrect trials coincided with reduced firing rates in CA1 and sensory cortical neurons. Moreover, trial-to-trial variations in the firing rates of simultaneously recorded neurons were more strongly correlated on error than correct trials. Last, the power of low-frequency local field potential oscillations was higher during incorrect trials. The finding that the neuronal correlates of correct and error trials are similar in the hippocampus and neocortex lead us to hypothesize that they depend on changes in the activity of common afferents, such as neuromodulatory inputs.
我们旨在确定一项困难计时任务中表现错误的神经元关联。雄性大鼠接受训练，根据光条件刺激（分别为CS-R和CS-S）的位置来寻求奖励并避免电击。然后，它们接受冲突试验，在试验中它们必须计算CS-R和CS-S之间的时间间隔以获取奖励，同时避免足部电击。在冲突试验中，行为策略存在明显的个体差异。当出现CS-S时，一些大鼠迅速离开电击区域，放弃获得奖励的选择，并且很少受到电击。其他大鼠则根据CS-R和CS-S之间的时间间隔延迟躲避来获取奖励，但受到电击的频率更高。由于大鼠进行了比偶然预期更长的错误试验运行，所以它们在给定试验中失败的概率在各次试验中并不稳定。鉴于这一发现表明大鼠在两种准稳定处理模式之间转换，我们接下来研究了错误的神经元关联。错误试验与CA1和感觉皮层神经元的放电率降低同时出现。此外，同时记录的神经元放电率的逐次试验变化在错误试验中比正确试验中更强烈地相关。最后，在错误试验期间，低频局部场电位振荡的功率更高。在海马体和新皮层中，正确和错误试验的神经元关联相似，这一发现使我们推测它们依赖于共同传入神经活动的变化，比如神经调节输入。
