NEURONAL MODELING. Single-trial Spike Trains in Parietal Cortex Reveal Discrete Steps During Decision-making

Overview

Journal Science

Specialty Science

Date 2015 Jul 11

PMID 26160947

Citations 132

Authors

Kenneth W Latimer

Jacob L Yates

Miriam L R Meister

Alexander C Huk

Jonathan W Pillow

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Neurons in the macaque lateral intraparietal (LIP) area exhibit firing rates that appear to ramp upward or downward during decision-making. These ramps are commonly assumed to reflect the gradual accumulation of evidence toward a decision threshold. However, the ramping in trial-averaged responses could instead arise from instantaneous jumps at different times on different trials. We examined single-trial responses in LIP using statistical methods for fitting and comparing latent dynamical spike-train models. We compared models with latent spike rates governed by either continuous diffusion-to-bound dynamics or discrete "stepping" dynamics. Roughly three-quarters of the choice-selective neurons we recorded were better described by the stepping model. Moreover, the inferred steps carried more information about the animal's choice than spike counts.

Citing Articles

The geometry of the neural state space of decisions.

Monsalve-Mercado M, Stine G, Shadlen M, Miller K bioRxiv. 2025; .

PMID: 39896602 PMC: 11785246. DOI: 10.1101/2025.01.24.634806.

Modeling Latent Neural Dynamics with Gaussian Process Switching Linear Dynamical Systems.

Hu A, Zoltowski D, Nair A, Anderson D, Duncker L, Linderman S ArXiv. 2025; .

PMID: 39876935 PMC: 11774443.

Complementary cognitive roles for D2-MSNs and D1-MSNs during interval timing.

Bruce R, Weber M, Bova A, Volkman R, Jacobs C, Sivakumar K Elife. 2025; 13.

PMID: 39812105 PMC: 11735027. DOI: 10.7554/eLife.96287.

Tracking the evolution of a single choice.

Talluri B, Nienborg H Elife. 2024; 13.

PMID: 39429097 PMC: 11493403. DOI: 10.7554/eLife.103059.

Direct observation of the neural computations underlying a single decision.

Steinemann N, Stine G, Trautmann E, Zylberberg A, Wolpert D, Shadlen M Elife. 2024; 12.

PMID: 39422555 PMC: 11488853. DOI: 10.7554/eLife.90859.

References

Rouder J, Ratcliff R, McKoon G . A neural network model of implicit memory for object recognition. Psychol Sci. 2001; 11(1):13-9. DOI: 10.1111/1467-9280.00208. View

Roitman J, Shadlen M . Response of neurons in the lateral intraparietal area during a combined visual discrimination reaction time task. J Neurosci. 2002; 22(21):9475-89. PMC: 6758024. View

Mazurek M, Roitman J, Ditterich J, Shadlen M . A role for neural integrators in perceptual decision making. Cereb Cortex. 2003; 13(11):1257-69. DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhg097. View

Kaufman M, Churchland M, Ryu S, Shenoy K . Vacillation, indecision and hesitation in moment-by-moment decoding of monkey motor cortex. Elife. 2015; 4:e04677. PMC: 4415122. DOI: 10.7554/eLife.04677. View

Park I, Meister M, Huk A, Pillow J . Encoding and decoding in parietal cortex during sensorimotor decision-making. Nat Neurosci. 2014; 17(10):1395-403. PMC: 4176983. DOI: 10.1038/nn.3800. View

Shadlen M, Kiani R . Decision making as a window on cognition. Neuron. 2013; 80(3):791-806. PMC: 3852636. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2013.10.047. View

Churchland A, Kiani R, Chaudhuri R, Wang X, Pouget A, Shadlen M . Variance as a signature of neural computations during decision making. Neuron. 2011; 69(4):818-31. PMC: 3066020. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2010.12.037. View

Bromberg-Martin E, Matsumoto M, Hikosaka O . Distinct tonic and phasic anticipatory activity in lateral habenula and dopamine neurons. Neuron. 2010; 67(1):144-55. PMC: 2905384. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2010.06.016. View

Durstewitz D, Deco G . Computational significance of transient dynamics in cortical networks. Eur J Neurosci. 2007; 27(1):217-27. DOI: 10.1111/j.1460-9568.2007.05976.x. View

10.

Brunton B, Botvinick M, Brody C . Rats and humans can optimally accumulate evidence for decision-making. Science. 2013; 340(6128):95-8. DOI: 10.1126/science.1233912. View

11.

Kiani R, Hanks T, Shadlen M . Bounded integration in parietal cortex underlies decisions even when viewing duration is dictated by the environment. J Neurosci. 2008; 28(12):3017-29. PMC: 6670720. DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4761-07.2008. View

12.

Kang I, Maunsell J . Potential confounds in estimating trial-to-trial correlations between neuronal response and behavior using choice probabilities. J Neurophysiol. 2012; 108(12):3403-15. PMC: 3544877. DOI: 10.1152/jn.00471.2012. View

13.

Kiani R, Cueva C, Reppas J, Newsome W . Dynamics of neural population responses in prefrontal cortex indicate changes of mind on single trials. Curr Biol. 2014; 24(13):1542-7. PMC: 4191655. DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2014.05.049. View

14.

Yuan K, Girolami M, Niranjan M . Markov chain Monte Carlo methods for state-space models with point process observations. Neural Comput. 2012; 24(6):1462-86. DOI: 10.1162/NECO_a_00281. View

15.

Meister M, Hennig J, Huk A . Signal multiplexing and single-neuron computations in lateral intraparietal area during decision-making. J Neurosci. 2013; 33(6):2254-67. PMC: 3623291. DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2984-12.2013. View

16.

Miller P, Katz D . Stochastic transitions between neural states in taste processing and decision-making. J Neurosci. 2010; 30(7):2559-70. PMC: 2851230. DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3047-09.2010. View

17.

Stevenson I, Kording K . How advances in neural recording affect data analysis. Nat Neurosci. 2011; 14(2):139-42. PMC: 3410539. DOI: 10.1038/nn.2731. View

18.

Kiani R, Shadlen M . Representation of confidence associated with a decision by neurons in the parietal cortex. Science. 2009; 324(5928):759-64. PMC: 2738936. DOI: 10.1126/science.1169405. View

19.

Smith S, Shahidullah M . An evaluation of population projection errors for census tracts. J Am Stat Assoc. 1995; 90(429):64-71. DOI: 10.1080/01621459.1995.10476489. View

20.

Gold J, Shadlen M . The neural basis of decision making. Annu Rev Neurosci. 2007; 30:535-74. DOI: 10.1146/annurev.neuro.29.051605.113038. View