Topic: goal-directed actions

Perception is inherently variable; the same external stimulus might be detected or missed in different instances. Neuronal signals governing this variability remain elusive. Past studies have shown that mice can be trained to report optogenetic stimulation of primary somatosensory cortex (S1), bypassing the trial-by-trial perceptual variability associated with external stimuli. These studies, however, stimulated different populations of S1 neurons on different trials which may also contribute to perceptual variability. Our aim is to use spatial light modulation (SLM) to stimulate the same S1 n

Flexibility to changing environments is vital for survival and daily functioning. Impaired flexibility is a feature of many pathological conditions, including obsessive-compulsive disorder and schizophrenia, which result in a dissociation between actions and goals. The prevailing theory is that goal-directed actions support flexible behaviour, and impaired flexibility results from habit formation due to extended training, also called overtraining, whereby responding becomes less dependent on outcome value (e.g., compulsive responding).This dual-system theory suggests that overtraining results