Topic: sensory expectations

When we are able to prepare in advance of a movement, the subsequent movements generally get better. Motor cortical activity during preparation has been studied extensively, showing clear relationships between the neural population state achieved during preparation and the parameters of the subsequent self-initiated movement. However, movements are often triggered or corrected based on disturbances to the body or environment. Since such disturbances can often be predicted based on experience or other streams of sensory input, we reasoned that sensory expectations should also shape preparatory

Perception balances what we sense with what we expect. To maintain accuracy, our brains must continuously update sensory expectations when predictions don't match reality. To investigate this, we trained mice on an auditory detection task with hidden switches in stimulus probability across trials. Mice dynamically adjusted their decision thresholds, tracking these changing sound probabilities. We monitored dopamine in the tail of the striatum (TS), a region at the interface of sensory processing and action selection that receives direct auditory cortex inputs. Given mesolimbic dopamine's estab