Clancy, K. | Search bioRxiv

bioRxiv2018

Locomotion-dependent remapping of distributed cortical networks

The interactions between areas of the neocortex are fluid and state-dependent, but how individual neurons couple to cortex-wide network dynamics remains poorly understood. We correlated the spiking of individual neurons in primary visual (V1) and retrosplenial (RSP) cortex to activity across dorsal cortex, recorded simultaneously by calcium imaging. Individual neurons were correlated with distinct and reproducible patterns of activity across the cortical surface; while some fired predominantly with their local area, others coupled to activity in subsets of distal areas. The extent of distal coupling was predicted by how strongly neurons correlated with the local network. Changes in brain state triggered by locomotion re-structured how neurons couple to cortical activity patterns: running strengthened affiliations of V1 neurons with visual areas, while strengthening distal affiliations of RSP neurons with sensory cortices. Thus, individual neurons within a cortical area can independently engage in different cortical networks depending on the animal's behavioral state.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2017

Human olfactory cortex contributes to emotional and perceptual aspects of aversive associative learning and memory

The role of the sensory cortex, beyond the amygdala, has been increasingly recognized in animal associative learning and memory. Here, we examined olfactory cortical plasticity in human olfactory associative learning and memory, while elucidating related changes in emotional and perceptual responses. Psychophysical and neurometric analyses were conducted across an odor-morphing continuum, with the two extreme levels differentially conditioned with aversive and neutral stimuli. Conditioned odors acquired distinct emotional values, tracked by ensemble response patterns in the orbitofrontal (high-level) olfactory cortex. Also observed were enhanced perceptual discrimination and divergent ensemble neuronal response patterns in the anterior and posterior piriform (low-to-intermediate-level) olfactory cortices. Whereas emotional-learning-related changes, both behavioral and neural, maintained 8 days later, perceptual-learning-related changes, also both behavioral and neural, recovered by then, highlighting the human aptitude of forming persistent emotional memory and related sensory cortical plasticity in contrast to transient perceptual alterations of sensory stimuli associated with mild aversive experiences.

neuroscience↗