Neuronal Correlates of Spatial Working Memory in the Endbrain of Crows
Neuronal Correlates of Spatial Working Memory in the Endbrain of Crows
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DOI：
10.1016/j.cub.2019.06.060
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发表时间：
2019-08
期刊：
影响因子：
9.2
通讯作者：
Paul Rinnert;Maximilian E. Kirschhock;A. Nieder
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Paul Rinnert;Maximilian E. Kirschhock;A. Nieder
鸟类以其出色的空间认知能力而闻名。尤其是乌鸦，它们在缓存食物和检索缓存以供以后消费时，依赖于空间线索在内存中的显式表示。然而，在鸟类中，灵活的空间记忆能力与神经元的相关性在很大程度上是未知的。因此，我们训练腐肉乌鸦(Corvus Corone)进行空间延迟反应任务，在这项任务中，它们必须在工作记忆中保持视觉项目的可变位置几秒钟。在乌鸦高精度地完成这项任务后，我们记录了行为乌鸦的联合终脑区Nidopallium caudolaterale(NCL)的单细胞活动。很大一部分NCL神经元被调谐到个人偏好的位置，并选择性地维持工作记忆中项目的空间位置。放电率和反应时间的比较表明，大多数延迟选择神经元代表的是储存的位置信息，而不是运动准备。在所有记录的神经元中，几乎30%的神经元在视觉呈现和记忆延迟期间都进行了调谐，并且它们的空间调谐显著相关。在工作记忆过程中，被记录的神经元群体稳定地保持着空间信息。重要的是，空间调谐神经元的神经反应与乌鸦的选择相关，并允许统计分类器在自由选择试验中预测随后选择的目标位置。我们的发现证明了鸟类NCL在空间工作记忆中的关键作用，这让人想起空间工作记忆中汇聚进化的灵长类前额叶皮质的功能。
Birds are renowned for their excellent spatial cognition. Corvid songbirds, in particular, rely on explicit representation of spatial cues in memory when caching food and retrieving caches for later consumption. However, the neuronal correlates of flexible spatial memory abilities are largely unknown in birds. We therefore trained carrion crows (Corvus corone) on a spatial delayed-response task in which they had to maintain the variable location of a visual item for a few seconds in working memory. After the crows performed this task with high precision, we recorded single-cell activity from the associative endbrain areaNidopallium caudolaterale(NCL) in the behaving crows. A large fraction of NCL neurons were tuned to individual preferred locations and selectively maintained the spatial location of items in working memory. A comparison of firing rates with reaction times suggested that the majority of delay-selective neurons represented stored location information rather than motor preparation. Almost 30% of all recorded neurons were tuned during both visual presentation and memory delay, and their spatial tuning was significantly correlated. The population of recorded neurons stably maintained spatial information over the course of the working memory period. Importantly, the neural responses of spatially tuned neurons were relevant for the crows' choices and allowed a statistical classifier to predict the subsequently chosen target location in free-choice trials. Our findings demonstrate the pivotal role of the avian NCL in spatial working memory that is reminiscent of the function of the convergently evolved primate prefrontal cortex in spatial working memory.