Jessica Verhein

All Publications

• An emergent population code in primary auditory cortex supports selective attention to spectral and temporal sound features. The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience Downer, J. D., Verhein, J. R., Rapone, B. C., O'Connor, K. N., Sutter, M. L. 2021

  Abstract

  Textbook descriptions of primary sensory cortex (PSC) revolve around single neurons' representation of low-dimensional sensory features, such as visual object orientation in V1, location of somatic touch in S1, and sound frequency in A1. Typically, studies of PSC measure neurons' responses along few (1 or 2) stimulus and/or behavioral dimensions. However, real-world stimuli usually vary along many feature dimensions and behavioral demands change constantly. In order to illuminate how A1 supports flexible perception in rich acoustic environments, we recorded from A1 neurons while rhesus macaques (one male, one female) performed a feature-selective attention task. We presented sounds that varied along spectral and temporal feature dimensions (carrier bandwidth and temporal envelope, respectively). Within a block, subjects attended to one feature of the sound in a selective change detection task. We found that single neurons tend to be high-dimensional, in that they exhibit substantial mixed selectivity for both sound features, as well as task context. We found no overall enhancement of single-neuron coding of the attended feature, as attention could either diminish or enhance this coding. However, a population-level analysis reveals that ensembles of neurons exhibit enhanced encoding of attended sound features, and this population code tracks subjects' performance. Importantly, surrogate neural populations with intact single-neuron tuning but shuffled higher-order correlations among neurons fail to yield attention- related effects observed in the intact data. These results suggest that an emergent population code not measurable at the single-neuron level might constitute the functional unit of sensory representation in PSC.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENTThe ability to adapt to a dynamic sensory environment promotes a range of important natural behaviors. We recorded from single neurons in monkey primary auditory cortex while subjects attended to either the spectral or temporal features of complex sounds. Surprisingly, we found no average increase in responsiveness to, or encoding of, the attended feature across single neurons. However, when we pooled the activity of the sampled neurons via targeted dimensionality reduction, we found enhanced population-level representation of the attended feature and suppression of the distractor feature. This dissociation of the effects of attention at the level of single neurons vs. the population highlights the synergistic nature of cortical sound encoding and enriches our understanding of sensory cortical function.

  View details for DOI 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0693-20.2021

  View details for PubMedID 34210783

• Decoding and perturbing decision states in real time. Nature Peixoto, D., Verhein, J. R., Kiani, R., Kao, J. C., Nuyujukian, P., Chandrasekaran, C., Brown, J., Fong, S., Ryu, S. I., Shenoy, K. V., Newsome, W. T. 2021

  Abstract

  In dynamic environments, subjects often integrate multiple samples of a signal and combine them to reach a categorical judgment1. The process of deliberation can be described by a time-varying decision variable (DV), decoded from neural population activity, that predicts a subject's upcoming decision2. Within single trials, however, there are large moment-to-moment fluctuations in the DV, the behavioural significance of which is unclear. Here, using real-time, neural feedback control of stimulus duration, we show that within-trial DV fluctuations, decoded from motor cortex, are tightly linked to decision statein macaques, predicting behavioural choices substantially better than the condition-averaged DV or the visual stimulus alone. Furthermore, robust changes in DV sign have the statistical regularities expected from behavioural studies of changes of mind3. Probing the decision process on single trials with weak stimulus pulses, we find evidence for time-varying absorbing decision bounds, enabling us to distinguish between specific models of decision making.

  View details for DOI 10.1038/s41586-020-03181-9

  View details for PubMedID 33473215

• Feature-Selective Attention Adaptively Shifts Noise Correlations in Primary Auditory Cortex JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE Downer, J. D., Rapone, B., Verhein, J., O'Connor, K. N., Sutter, M. L. 2017; 37 (21): 5378-5392

  Abstract

  Sensory environments often contain an overwhelming amount of information, with both relevant and irrelevant information competing for neural resources. Feature attention mediates this competition by selecting the sensory features needed to form a coherent percept. How attention affects the activity of populations of neurons to support this process is poorly understood because population coding is typically studied through simulations in which one sensory feature is encoded without competition. Therefore, to study the effects of feature attention on population-based neural coding, investigations must be extended to include stimuli with both relevant and irrelevant features. We measured noise correlations (rnoise) within small neural populations in primary auditory cortex while rhesus macaques performed a novel feature-selective attention task. We found that the effect of feature-selective attention on rnoise depended not only on the population tuning to the attended feature, but also on the tuning to the distractor feature. To attempt to explain how these observed effects might support enhanced perceptual performance, we propose an extension of a simple and influential model in which shifts in rnoise can simultaneously enhance the representation of the attended feature while suppressing the distractor. These findings present a novel mechanism by which attention modulates neural populations to support sensory processing in cluttered environments.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Although feature-selective attention constitutes one of the building blocks of listening in natural environments, its neural bases remain obscure. To address this, we developed a novel auditory feature-selective attention task and measured noise correlations (rnoise) in rhesus macaque A1 during task performance. Unlike previous studies showing that the effect of attention on rnoise depends on population tuning to the attended feature, we show that the effect of attention depends on the tuning to the distractor feature as well. We suggest that these effects represent an efficient process by which sensory cortex simultaneously enhances relevant information and suppresses irrelevant information.

  View details for DOI 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3169-16.2017

  View details for Web of Science ID 000402807500015

  View details for PubMedID 28432139

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC5456114