Yin Chaoqun, Melin Maxwell D, Rojas-Bowe Gabriel, Sun Xiaonan Richard, Couto João, Gluf Steven, Kostiuk Alex, Musall Simon, Churchland Anne K
UCLA Neuroscience Interdepartmental Program, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA; Department of Neurobiology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
UCLA Neuroscience Interdepartmental Program, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA; Department of Neurobiology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA; UCLA-Caltech Medical Scientist Training Program, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
Neuron. 2025 Jun 30. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2025.06.001.
Switching between cognitive states is a natural tendency, even for trained experts. To test how cognitive states impact neural activity and behavior, we measured cortex-wide neural activity during decision-making in mice. During disengagement, neural activity was more variable across trials and could be better explained by a linear encoding model. This increase in explained variance during disengagement was associated with two changes: modestly stronger neural encoding of movements generally and an increase in task-independent movements specifically. Surprisingly, behavioral videos showed similar motion energy in both cognitive states. But while the overall amount of movements remained similar, movement alignment changed: as animals slipped into disengagement, their movements became less stereotyped. These idiosyncratic movements were a strong predictor of task performance and engagement. Taken together, our results suggest that the temporal structure of movement patterns constitutes an embodied signature of the cognitive state with a profound relationship to neural activity.
即使对于训练有素的专家来说，在不同认知状态之间切换也是一种自然倾向。为了测试认知状态如何影响神经活动和行为，我们在小鼠决策过程中测量了全脑皮层的神经活动。在脱离任务状态期间，不同试验中的神经活动变化更大，并且可以通过线性编码模型得到更好的解释。脱离任务状态期间可解释方差的增加与两个变化有关：一是总体上运动的神经编码略有增强，二是特别是与任务无关的运动增加。令人惊讶的是，行为视频显示在两种认知状态下具有相似的运动能量。但是，虽然运动的总量保持相似，但运动的协调性发生了变化：当动物进入脱离任务状态时，它们的运动变得不那么刻板。这些特质性运动是任务表现和参与度的有力预测指标。综合来看，我们的结果表明，运动模式的时间结构构成了认知状态的一种具身特征，与神经活动有着深远的关系。
