Recorded neural data from: Nonlinear feedback modulation contributes to the optimization of flexible decision-making

Neural activity in the primate brain correlates with both sensory
evaluation and action selection aspects of decision-making. However, the
intricate interaction between these distinct neural processes and their
impact on decision behaviors remains unexplored. Here, we examined the
interplay of these decision processes in the posterior parietal cortex
(PPC) when monkeys performed a flexible decision task. We found that the
PPC activity related to monkeys’ abstract decisions about visual stimuli
was nonlinearly modulated by monkeys’ following saccade choices directed
outside each neuron’s response field. Recurrent neural network modeling
suggested that the feedback connections, which matched the learned
stimulus-response associations during the task, might mediate such
feedback modulation. Further analysis on network dynamics revealed that
selectivity-specific feedback connectivity intensified the attractor
basins of population activity underlying saccade choices, thereby
increasing the reliability of flexible decisions. These results highlight
an iterative computation between different decision processes, mediated
primarily by precise feedback connectivity, contributing to the
optimization of flexible decision-making.