scholarly journals Enhanced population coding for rewarded choices in the medial frontal cortex of the mouse

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J. Siniscalchi ◽  
Hongli Wang ◽  
Alex C. Kwan
Keyword(s):  
Frontal Cortex ◽  
Population Coding ◽  
Medial Frontal Cortex ◽  
Instrumental Behavior ◽  
Neural Representations ◽  
Neural Ensemble ◽  
Motor Region ◽  
Ensemble Activity ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Selection Of

AbstractInstrumental behavior is characterized by the selection of actions based on the degree to which they lead to a desired outcome. However, we lack a detailed understanding of how rewarded actions are reinforced and preferentially implemented. In rodents, the medial frontal cortex is hypothesized to play an important role in this process, based in part on its capacity to encode chosen actions and their outcomes. We therefore asked how neural representations of choice and outcome might interact to facilitate instrumental behavior. To investigate this question, we imaged neural ensemble activity in layer 2/3 of the secondary motor region (M2) while mice engaged in a two-choice auditory discrimination task with probabilistic outcomes. Correct choices could result in one of three reward amounts (single-, double-, or omitted-reward), which allowed us to measure neural and behavioral effects of reward magnitude, as well as its categorical presence or absence. Single-unit and population decoding analyses revealed a consistent influence of outcome on choice signals in M2. Specifically, rewarded choices were more robustly encoded relative to unrewarded choices, with little dependence on the exact magnitude of reinforcement. Our results provide insight into the integration of past choices and outcomes in the rodent brain during instrumental behavior.

scholarly journals Enhanced Population Coding for Rewarded Choices in the Medial Frontal Cortex of the Mouse

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (10) ◽  
pp. 4090-4106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J Siniscalchi ◽  
Hongli Wang ◽  
Alex C Kwan
Keyword(s):  
Frontal Cortex ◽  
Population Coding ◽  
Medial Frontal Cortex ◽  
Instrumental Behavior ◽  
Neural Representations ◽  
Neural Ensemble ◽  
Motor Region ◽  
Ensemble Activity ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Selection Of

Abstract Instrumental behavior is characterized by the selection of actions based on the degree to which they lead to a desired outcome. However, we lack a detailed understanding of how rewarded actions are reinforced and preferentially implemented. In rodents, the medial frontal cortex is hypothesized to play an important role in this process, based in part on its capacity to encode chosen actions and their outcomes. We therefore asked how neural representations of choice and outcome might interact to facilitate instrumental behavior. To investigate this question, we imaged neural ensemble activity in layer 2/3 of the secondary motor region (M2) while mice engaged in a two-choice auditory discrimination task with probabilistic outcomes. Correct choices could result in one of three reward amounts (single, double or omitted reward), which allowed us to measure neural and behavioral effects of reward magnitude, as well as its categorical presence or absence. Single-unit and population decoding analyses revealed a consistent influence of outcome on choice signals in M2. Specifically, rewarded choices were more robustly encoded relative to unrewarded choices, with little dependence on the exact magnitude of reinforcement. Our results provide insight into the integration of past choices and outcomes in the rodent brain during instrumental behavior.

scholarly journals Shared neural representations of cognitive conflict and negative affect in the medial frontal cortex

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luc Vermeylen ◽  
David Wisniewski ◽  
Carlos González-García ◽  
Vincent Hoofs ◽  
Wim Notebaert ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Negative Affect ◽  
Frontal Cortex ◽  
Supplementary Motor Area ◽  
Cognitive Conflict ◽  
Medial Frontal Cortex ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Dorsal Anterior Cingulate Cortex ◽  
Neural Representations ◽  
Fmri Study ◽  
Multivariate Pattern

AbstractInfluential theories of medial frontal cortex (MFC) function suggest that the MFC registers cognitive conflict as an aversive signal, but no study directly tested this idea. Instead, recent studies suggested that non-overlapping regions in the MFC process conflict and affect. In this pre-registered human fMRI study, we used multivariate pattern analyses to identify which regions respond similarly to conflict and aversive signals. The results reveal that, of all conflict- and value-related regions, the ventral pre-supplementary motor area (or dorsal anterior cingulate cortex) showed a shared neural pattern response to different conflict and affect tasks. These findings challenge recent conclusions that conflict and affect are processed independently, and provide support for integrative views of MFC function.

A Review of Neurocognitive Mechanisms of Social Conformity

2014 ◽  
Vol 45 (6) ◽  
pp. 466-478 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Schnuerch ◽  
Henning Gibbons
Keyword(s):  
Reinforcement Learning ◽  
Frontal Cortex ◽  
Ventral Striatum ◽  
Behavioral Adjustment ◽  
Medial Frontal Cortex ◽  
Valuable Insight ◽  
Cognitive Mechanisms ◽  
Learning Mechanisms ◽  
Social Conformity ◽  
Insight Into

In groups, individuals often adjust their behavior to the majority’s. Here, we provide a brief introduction into the research on social conformity and review the first, very recent investigations elucidating the underlying neurocognitive mechanisms. Multiple studies suggest that conformity is a behavioral adjustment based on reinforcement-learning mechanisms in posterior medial frontal cortex and ventral striatum. It has also been suggested that the detection of cognitive inconsistency and the modulation of basic encoding processes are involved. Together, recent findings provide valuable insight into the neural and cognitive mechanisms underlying social conformity and clearly point up the need for further studies in this field.

scholarly journals Shared Neural Representations of Cognitive Conflict and Negative Affect in the Medial Frontal Cortex

2020 ◽  
Vol 40 (45) ◽  
pp. 8715-8725 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luc Vermeylen ◽  
David Wisniewski ◽  
Carlos González-García ◽  
Vincent Hoofs ◽  
Wim Notebaert ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Negative Affect ◽  
Frontal Cortex ◽  
Cognitive Conflict ◽  
Medial Frontal Cortex ◽  
Neural Representations

An Insight into Oligopeptide Transporter 3 (OPT3) family proteins

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fırat Kurt
Keyword(s):  
Stress Responses ◽  
Chelating Agent ◽  
Biological Processes ◽  
Biotic And Abiotic Stress ◽  
Oligopeptide Transporter ◽  
Binding Residues ◽  
Fe Homeostasis ◽  
Proteins Interactions ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Selection Of

: Oligopeptide transporter 3 (OPT3) proteins are one of the subsets of OPT clade, yet little is known about these transporters. Therefore, homolog OPT3 proteins in several plant species were investigated and characterized using bioinformatical tools. Motif and co-expression analyses showed that OPT3 proteins may be involved in both biotic and abiotic stress responses as well as growth and developmental processes. AtOPT3 usually seemed to take part in Fe homeostasis whereas ZmOPT3 putatively interacted with proteins involved in various biological processes from plant defense system to stress responses. Glutathione (GSH), as a putative alternative chelating agent, was used in the AtOPT3 and ZmOPT3 docking analyses to identify their putative binding residues. The information given in this study will contribute to the understanding of OPT3 proteins’ interactions in various pathways and to the selection of potential ligands for OPT3s.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document