Data from: Multiplexed subspaces route neural activity across brain-wide networks

Cognition is flexible, allowing behavior to change on a moment-by-moment
basis. Such flexibility relies on the brain’s ability to route information
through different networks of brain regions in order to perform different
cognitive computations. However, the mechanisms that determine which
network of regions is active are not well understood. Here, we combined
cortex-wide calcium imaging with high-density electrophysiological
recordings in mice to understand the interactions between networks of
brain regions. We found that different dimensions within the activity of
each region were functionally connected with different cortex-wide
‘subspace networks’. These subspace networks were multiplexed; each brain
region was functionally connected with multiple independent, yet
overlapping, networks. The subspace network that was active changed from
moment-to-moment. These changes were associated with changes in the
geometric relationship between the neural response within a region and the
subspace dimensions: when neural responses were aligned with (i.e.,
projected along) a subspace dimension, neural activity was increased in
the associated regions. Together, our results suggest that changing the
geometry of neural representations within a brain region may allow the
brain to flexibly engage different brain-wide networks, thereby supporting
cognitive flexibility.