Characteristic and intermingled neocortical circuits encode different visual object discriminations.

Characteristic and intermingled neocortical circuits encode different visual object discriminations.
Behav Brain Res. 2017 May 13;:
Authors: Zhang GR, Zhao H, Cook N, Svestka M, Choi EM, Jan M, Cook RG, Geller AI
Abstract
Synaptic plasticity and neural network theories hypothesize that the essential information for advanced cognitive tasks is encoded in specific circuits and neurons within distributed neocortical networks. However, these circuits are incompletely characterized, and we do not know if a specific discrimination is encoded in characteristic circuits among multiple animals. Here, we determined the spatial distribution of active neurons for a circuit that encodes some of the essential information for a cognitive task. We genetically activated protein kinase C pathways in several hundred spatially-grouped glutamatergic and GABAergic neurons in rat postrhinal cortex, a multimodal associative area that is part of a distributed circuit that encodes visual object discriminations. We previously established that this intervention enhances accuracy for specific discriminations. Moreover, the genetically-modified, local circuit in POR cortex encodes some of the essential information, and this local circuit is preferentially activated during performance, as shown by activity-dependent gene imaging. Here, we mapped the positions of the active neurons, which revealed that two image sets are encoded in characteristic and different circ...

Source: Behavioural Brain Research - May 13, 2017 Category: Neurology Authors: Zhang GR, Zhao H, Cook N, Svestka M, Choi EM, Jan M, Cook RG, Geller AI Tags: Behav Brain Res Source Type: research