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Percept and the single neuron

Nature Neuroscience volume 16, pages 112–113 (2013)Cite this article

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Work reported in this issue has derived the long-sought analytical link between neural readout weights and choice signals in the standard model of perceptual decision making. This fresh perspective opens the door to experimental assessments of percept formation from the activity of sensory neurons.

Decades of research have taught us that our mental lives are reflected in the activity of neurons. Yet when we perceive an uncertain stimulus—was that a friend hustling by on the other side of the street?—which neurons are really implicated in the formation of the mental percept? When deciding on whether to shout “hello” or not, do our brains exploit all the sensory information available at the neural level? A first answer to these questions was given about 15 years ago, with the surprising finding that the activity of single sensory neurons can show detectable traces of a visual percept1. When a monkey has to make a decision based on weak or nonexistent visual information, small fluctuations of single-neuron activity in the visual cortex are slightly predictive of the animal's final choice. However, this observation alone does not tell us whether such neurons actively participate in forming the animal's percept or are simply influenced by it. In this issue of Nature Neuroscience, Haefner et al.2 report significant conceptual progress in resolving this long-standing puzzle.

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Figure 1: The link between readout weights and choice probability signals in the standard model of percept formation.

Katie Vicari

References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Adrien Wohrer is at the Group for Neural Theory, INSERM U960, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, France,

    Adrien Wohrer

  2. Christian K. Machens is at the Champalimaud Neuroscience Programme, Lisbon, Portugal.,

    Christian K Machens

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  1. Adrien Wohrer
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  2. Christian K Machens
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Correspondence to Christian K Machens.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Wohrer, A., Machens, C. Percept and the single neuron. Nat Neurosci 16, 112–113 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.3314

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