Target-specific membrane potential dynamics of neocortical projection neurons during goal-directed behavior
Open accessAbstract
Goal-directed behavior involves distributed neuronal circuits in the mammalian brain, including diverse regions of neocortex. However, the cellular basis of long-range cortico-cortical signaling during goal-directed behavior is poorly understood. Here, we recorded membrane potential of excitatory layer 2/3 pyramidal neurons in primary somatosensory barrel cortex (S1) projecting to either primary motor cortex (M1) or secondary somatosensory cortex (S2) during a whisker detection task, in which thirsty mice learn to lick for water reward in response to a whisker deflection. Whisker stimulation in ‘Good performer’ mice, but not ‘Naive’ mice, evoked long-lasting biphasic depolarization correlated with task performance in S2-projecting (S2-p) neurons, but not M1-projecting (M1-p) neurons. Furthermore, S2-p neurons, but not M1-p neurons, became excited during spontaneous unrewarded licking in ‘Good performer’ mice, but not in ‘Naive’ mice. Thus, a learning-induced, projection-specific signal from S1 to S2 may contribute to goal-directed sensorimotor transformation of whisker sensation into licking motor output.
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wS1 neurons projecting to S2 increase their spike rate and predict choice.
“In particular, wS1 neurons projecting to S2 were found to increase their spike rate, predicting the choice (20, 22).”
From Neural correlates of perceptual decision-making in the primary somatosensory cortex (2026) · cites this paper as [20]
The Results section on task performance reports a higher evoked action-potential rate in S1 neurons projecting to S2 than in those projecting to M1 during the lick period. The hit-versus-miss Results section links S2-projecting neurons’ membrane potential—not their spike rate—to task execution in trained mice. It does not establish that their spike rate predicts choice. (LLM, conf=0.82)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe primary sensory cortex not only retains relatively weak and sparse choice-related activity but also, in this naturalistic behavioral task, directly participates in categorical coding of an all-or-none decision variable into which the majority of neural populations are recruited.
“These observations indicate that the primary sensory cortex not only retains relatively weak and sparse choice-related activity, as it was shown previously (10, 11, 19–25), but also, in our naturalistic behavioral task, directly participates in a categorical coding of all-or-none DV into which the majority of neural populations are recruited.”
From Neural correlates of perceptual decision-making in the primary somatosensory cortex (2026) · cites this paper as [20]
Split into 2 atoms — 1 confirmed, 1 partially supported, 0 disputed, 0 misattributed, 0 unverifiable. Expand the claim to see per-atom verdicts.
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredOur findings are consistent with the hypothesis that early sensory response (peak 2) is mostly perception-related, involving thalamo-cortico-thalamic loops, while late mostly decision-related response (peak 4) reflects reverberation of neural activity in cortico-cortical S1 to S2 loops.
“Our findings are consistent with the hypothesis that “early”(20, 21) sensory response (peak 2 in our case) is mostly perception-related, involving thalamo-cortico-thalamic loops (58), while “late” mostly decision-related response (19) (peak 4 in our experiments) reflect reverberation of neural activity (26, 30) in cortico-cortical S1 to S2 loops (10, 11, 22–24).”
From Neural correlates of perceptual decision-making in the primary somatosensory cortex (2026) · cites this paper as [20]
Split into 2 atoms — 0 confirmed, 1 partially supported, 0 disputed, 0 misattributed, 1 unverifiable. Expand the claim to see per-atom verdicts.
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredwS1 may integrate sensory information over time and contribute to goal-directed behavior.
“It has been observed, however, that wS1 may integrate sensory information over time (19) and contribute to goal-directed behavior (20, 21).”
From Neural correlates of perceptual decision-making in the primary somatosensory cortex (2026) · cites this paper as [20]
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References 20 · Cited by 96
Research works printed but not linked: 17
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- Authors
- Yamashita, T., & Petersen, C. C.
- Affiliations
- Research Institute of Environmental Medicine, Nagoya University (JP)
- École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (CH)
- Corresponding author
- Yamashita, Takayuki
- Petersen, Carl CH
- Venue
- eLife
- Publisher
- eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd
- Published
- 2016-06-21
- Volume
- 5
- ISSN
- 2050-084X (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC4915810
- OpenAlex
- W2467233121
- Cited by
- 96
- References
- 20
- Citations by year
- 2026: 9 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 17 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 12 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 3
- FWCI
- 6.15
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- eLife (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Infoscience (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Infoscience (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung (310030_146252)
- European Research Council (293660)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural dynamics and brain function
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neuroscience and Neuropharmacology Research
- Keywords
- goal-directed behavior, membrane potential dynamics, layer 2/3 pyramidal neurons, barrel cortex, secondary somatosensory cortex, primary motor cortex, licking behavior, sensorimotor transformation
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Behavior, Animal, Goals, Learning, Membrane Potentials, Motor Cortex, Neural Pathways, Somatosensory Cortex, Pyramidal Cells, Neocortex, Mice
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