Topic: Mesoscale calcium imaging

By using our senses, we explore and perceive the world around us. To process diverse sensory cues simultaneously, the brain relies on well-defined and segregated sensory circuits. Yet, the mechanisms underlying circuit specificity are poorly understood. It is accepted, however, that the development of sensory circuits involves intricate interactions between early genetic programs and neuronal activity. Spontaneous activity emerges early in mammalian cortical development, preceding sensory perception and characterized by synchronized patterns of neuronal activity. The precise nature of the inte

Goal-directed behavior requires the coordinated activity of sensory and motor areas across the brain. Recent advances in large-scale neural recordings allow studying brain-wide dynamics during behavior at cellular resolution. We used mesoscale calcium imaging to record the activity of up to ~30,000 neurons simultaneously (~1,000,000 neurons total) from over 10 cortical areas while mice performed a novel goal-directed naturalistic behavior. The behavior consisted of multipositional tongue-reaching movements to a target to obtain a water reward, with the target presented on a grid (typically con