Topic: task-switching

Global excitatory activity patterns across the dorsal cortex are reorganized when mice perform perceptual decision-making tasks that involve different underlying computations and vary in complexity. However, the circuit mechanisms enabling such large-scale activity reorganization remain unknown. An interesting possibility is that they depend on neuromodulatory input to the cortex. In particular, cholinergic neurons in the basal forebrain project widely across cortical areas while exhibiting topographical and functional heterogeneity. They are therefore well equipped to serve as an orchestrator

Cognitive flexibility is a function of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) that allows shifting strategies to adjust performance in changing environments. The dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN) provides most of the serotonergic inputs to the PFC. Clinical and pharmacological evidence suggests that prefrontal impairments or serotonergic alterations affect cognitive flexibility. However, the neuronal correlates of cognitive flexibility are largely unknown, and whether modulation of the neuronal activity in the DRN affects flexible behaviors remains unclear. We investigated how projections from the DRN modulate