Neural Population Dynamics in Prefrontal Cortex Indicate Changes-of-mind on single Behavioral Trials
The neural mechanisms underlying decision-making are typically examined by statistical analysis of large numbers of trials from sequentially recorded single neurons. Averaging across sequential recordings, however, obscures important aspects of decision-making such as ‘changes of mind’ (CoM) that occur at variable times on different trials. I will show that the covert decision variables (DV) can be tracked dynamically on single behavioral trials via simultaneous recording of large neural populations in prefrontal cortex. Vacillations of the neural DV, in turn, identify candidate CoM in monkeys, and show that they closely match the known properties of human CoM. Thus simultaneous population recordings can provide insight into transient, internal cognitive states that are otherwise undetectable.
Date: 12 November 2015, 12:00 (Thursday, 5th week, Michaelmas 2015)
Venue: Old Indian Institute, 34 Broad Street, Oxford
Speaker: William Newsome (Stanford University School of Medicine)
Organising department: Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour
Organiser: Fiona Woods (University of Oxford, Department of Physiology Anatomy and Genetics, Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour)
Organiser contact email address: fiona.woods@cncb.ox.ac.uk
Booking required?: Not required
Audience: Members of the University only
Editor: Sarah-Jane Scard