Transient photocurrents in a subthreshold evidence accumulator accelerate perceptual decisions

Timothy L. H. Wong, Clifford B. Talbot and Gero Miesenböck ()
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Timothy L. H. Wong: University of Oxford
Clifford B. Talbot: University of Oxford
Gero Miesenböck: University of Oxford

Nature Communications, 2023, vol. 14, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract Perceptual decisions are complete when a continuously updated score of sensory evidence reaches a threshold. In Drosophila, αβ core Kenyon cells (αβc KCs) of the mushroom bodies integrate odor-evoked synaptic inputs to spike threshold at rates that parallel the speed of olfactory choices. Here we perform a causal test of the idea that the biophysical process of synaptic integration underlies the psychophysical process of bounded evidence accumulation in this system. Injections of single brief, EPSP-like depolarizations into the dendrites of αβc KCs during odor discrimination, using closed-loop control of a targeted opsin, accelerate decision times at a marginal cost of accuracy. Model comparisons favor a mechanism of temporal integration over extrema detection and suggest that the optogenetically evoked quanta are added to a growing total of sensory evidence, effectively lowering the decision bound. The subthreshold voltage dynamics of αβc KCs thus form an accumulator memory for sequential samples of information.

Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-38487-5

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