Topic: secondary motor cortex

To make judgments, brain must be able to infer the state of the world based on often incomplete and ambiguous evidence. To probe neural circuits that perform the computations underlying such judgments, we developed a behavioral task for mice that required them to detect sustained increases in the speed of a continuously varying visual stimulus. In this talk, I will present evidence that the responses of secondary motor cortex to stimulus fluctuations in this task are consistent with updates of the animal’s state of belief that the change has occurred. These results establish a framework for me

The secondary motor cortex (M2) of rodents appears as a highly integrative brain region, with functions beyond motor processing. It indeed features prefrontal-like thalamocortical connectivity, with prominent innervation from thalamic nuclei involved in adaptive decision-making, namely the mediodorsal thalamic nucleus (MD) and the ventral anterior/ventral lateral thalamic nuclei (VA/VL). To study the functional connectivity between the M2 and the thalamus, we performed tracing experiments and behavioral assays in rats. Through a classic retrograde tracing approach, we identified convergent pro