Dataset for studying information flow among macaque lateral prefrontal cortex

Learning leads to changes in population patterns of neural activity. We wanted to examine how these changes in activity patterns affect the dimensionality of neural responses and information about choices. We carried out high channel count recordings in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC; 768 electrodes) while macaques performed a two-armed bandit reinforcement learning task (see doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0631-17.2017). The high channel count recordings allowed us to study population coding while the animals learned choices between actions or objects.
This dataset includes spike counts from time bins (20ms, consecutive) around the onset of the cue that instructed the animals to respond to the recorded neural population. In addition, behavioral choice data used to model behavior is included. The dataset consists of 8 recording sessions. There is one MAT file per session.
Using this dataset, we have found that the dimensionality of neural population activity was higher across blocks in which animals learned the values of novel pairs of objects, with respect to the dimensionality across blocks in which they learned the values of actions. The increase in dimensionality with learning in object blocks was related to less shared information across blocks. Thus, patterns of neural activity were less similar compared to learning in action blocks. Furthermore, these differences emerged with learning and were not a simple function of the choice of a visual image or action. Therefore, learning the values of novel objects increases the dimensionality of neural representations in dlPFC.

学习导致神经网络活动在种群模式上的转变。本研究旨在探究这些活动模式的改变如何影响神经响应的维度以及关于选择的认知。研究团队在猴子执行两臂老虎机强化学习任务（参见doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0631-17.2017）期间，对其背外侧前额叶皮层（dlPFC；768个电极）进行了高通道数记录。高通道数记录技术使得研究动物在学习选择行为或对象之间的决策时，神经网络的种群编码成为可能。本数据集包括围绕指示动物对记录的神经网络种群做出反应的提示信号发生的时刻（20毫秒，连续）的放电计数。此外，还包括用于建模行为的操作性选择数据。数据集包含8个记录会话，每个会话对应一个MAT文件。利用此数据集，我们发现，在动物学习新颖对象对的价值时，与学习动作的价值相比，神经种群活动的维度在各个区块之间存在更高的差异。在对象区块的学习过程中，维度增加与区块间共享信息的减少有关。因此，与动作区块的学习相比，神经活动模式之间的相似性较低。此外，这些差异随着学习过程的出现而显现，并非简单的视觉图像或动作选择的结果。因此，学习新颖对象的价值能够增加背外侧前额叶皮层（dlPFC）中神经表征的维度。