Scientists analyze the mechanism by which neurons in the cerebral cortical system read code

The Institute of Neuroscience of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Space Awareness Research Group of the Primate Neurobiology Key Laboratory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences analyzed the reading mechanism of neuron information in the brain by combining the measurement of decision signals with the interference of microcurrent stimulation. The results were published online
.
the brain's perception of space includes two important stages of encoding and decoding or reading code. The coding mechanism of brain neurons has been widely studied, but the decoding research is relatively small, and the specific decoding mechanism is not clear.
Researchers trained macaques to report the direction of their perceived light flow in space through eye movements, and while the macaques performed their tasks, they recorded the extracellary electrophysiological activity of neurons in three brain regions, the upper temporal lobe endocute cortical layer (MST), the middle temporal cortical layer (MT), and the abdominal endocutelin layer (VIP). The analysis found that in three brain regions, sensory signals were not always consistent with decision signals, sometimes to the contrary. For example, some neurons prefer to encode left-handed motion, but macaques are more likely to move to the right in behavior ("feeling-decision-opposite cells"). Further experiments have found that in the MST and MT cortical corticals, both types of cells are artificially excited by microcurrent, which can significantly deviate the cognitive decision-making of macaques, and the direction of deviation tends to be the direction of sensory information encoded by electrically stimulated neurons, rather than the direction reflected by the decision signal. In contrast, microcurrent stimulation of VIP neurons could not influence cognitive decision-making in macaques, suggesting that the movement information of the brain region was not read and used by the downstream brain region in the current task. (Source: Huang Xin Hejing, China Science Daily)