Context-invariant beliefs are supported by dynamic reconfiguration of single unit functional connectivity in prefrontal cortex

Abstract

AbstractNatural behaviors occur in closed action-perception loops and are supported by dynamic and flexible beliefs abstracted away from our immediate sensory milieu. How this real-world flexibility is instantiated in neural circuits remains unknown. Here we have macaques navigate in a virtual environment by primarily leveraging sensory (optic flow) signals, or by more heavily relying on acquired internal models. We record single-unit spiking activity simultaneously from the dorsomedial superior temporal area (MSTd), parietal area 7a, and the dorso-lateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC). Results show that while animals were able to maintain adaptive task-relevant beliefs regardless of sensory context, the fine-grain statistical dependencies between neurons, particularly in 7a and dlPFC, dynamically remapped with the changing computational demands. In dlPFC, but not 7a, destroying these statistical dependencies abolished the area’s ability for cross-context decoding. Lastly, correlation analyses suggested that the more unit-to-unit couplings remapped in dlPFC, and the less they did so in MSTd, the less were population codes and behavior impacted by the loss of sensory evidence. We conclude that dynamic functional connectivity between prefrontal cortex neurons maintains a stable population code and context-invariant beliefs during naturalistic behavior with closed action-perception loops.