Vision, decision and navigation in mouse parietal cortex (360G-Wellcome-109004_Z_15_A)

Posterior parietal cortex (PPC) in humans and other animals is considered to be a nexus of sensory, motor, and cognitive functions. The underlying circuits and computations are increasingly studied in mice, a species that affords unparalleled resources such as genetic tools and behavioral tasks. Studies of mouse PPC, however, have focused on distinct functions: visual processing, decision making, and spatial navigation. It is not clear whether the same neurons and populations participate in these three functions, and whether they play similar roles in different behavioral contexts. We will first establish how the anatomical definition of mouse PPC used in studies of decision and navigation relates to functional maps of visual cortex established in studies of vision. We will then train head-fixed mice to perform two visual decision tasks: one of which involves navigation in virtual reality, and we will use two-photon calcium imaging to track the activity of populations of PPC neurons over weeks. These data will reveal whether the activity of the same PPC neurons stays fixed or varies to meet the variable demands of these two tasks, and thus establish the role of mouse PPC in functions that are typically combined in daily life: vision, decision, and navigation.