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时间：10月20日 14：00-15：30

地点：生物医学馆E203会议室

主讲人：徐宁龙

主持人：郭增才

题目：Circuit mechanisms underlying knowledge-based inference in flexible sensorimotor decisions

Making flexible decisions based on knowledge about causal environmental structures is a hallmark of goal-direct cognition in mammalian brains. Although several association brain regions including the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) have been implicated, the precise neuronal circuit mechanisms underlying knowledge-based decision-making remain largely unknown. Here we established an inference-based auditory categorization task, where mice performed within-session flexible stimulus re-categorization by inferring the changing task rules. We constructed a model-based reinforcement learning model involving the coding and updating of task structure knowledge, which recapitulated the animals’ behavior. By combining two-photon population imaging and projection-specific optogenetics, we found that auditory cortex (ACx) neurons encoded the hidden task-rule variable, which requires the feedback input from OFC. Silencing the OFC-ACx input specifically disrupted re-categorization behavior, while direct imaging from OFC axons within ACx revealed task state-related value signals, supporting the model-based updating mechanism. Our data reveal a cortical circuit mechanism underlying inference-based flexible decision-making.

主讲人介绍：

徐宁龙，中国科学院脑科学与智能技术卓越创新中心/神经科学研究所研究员。 1995年毕业于四川大学生命科学学院，获理学学士，2006年毕业于中国科学院上海生命科学研究院神经科学研究所，获理学博士，2006-2013年在美国冷泉港实验室（ Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory）、霍华德休斯医学研究所（ HHMI, Janelia Research Campus）做博士后研究。 2013年 8月加入中科院神经科学研究所任研究组组长。徐宁龙博士主要从事感知与行为的神经环路研究，利用小鼠听觉行为学、在体双光子成像、光遗传学和神经计算等多种技术手段研究听觉皮层、联合皮层、前额叶及皮层下结构神经环路在感知抉择与行动选择中的作用机制。研究论文发表在Nature、Nature Neuroscience、Neuron 等学术期刊。