Neural circuits for evidence accumulation and decision making in larval zebrafish

To make appropriate decisions, animals need to accumulate sensory evidence. Simple integrator models can explain many aspects of such behavior, but how the underlying computations are mechanistically implemented in the brain remains poorly understood. Here we approach this problem by adapting the ra...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature neuroscience 2020-01, Vol.23 (1), p.94-102
Main Authors: Bahl, Armin, Engert, Florian
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
631/1647/245/2225
631/378/116/2392
631/378/2629/1409
631/378/3917
631/378/3920
Animal Genetics and Genomics
Animals
Behavior
Behavioral Sciences
Biological Techniques
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Biomedicine
Brain
Brain - physiology
Danio rerio
Decision making
Decision Making - physiology
Fishes
Hindbrain
Larva
Larvae
Models, Neurological
Neural circuitry
Neural networks
Neural Pathways - physiology
Neurobiology
Neuroimaging
Neurons - physiology
Neurosciences
Observations
Optomotor response
Physiological aspects
Zebra fish
Zebrafish
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Summary:To make appropriate decisions, animals need to accumulate sensory evidence. Simple integrator models can explain many aspects of such behavior, but how the underlying computations are mechanistically implemented in the brain remains poorly understood. Here we approach this problem by adapting the random-dot motion discrimination paradigm, classically used in primate studies, to larval zebrafish. Using their innate optomotor response as a measure of decision making, we find that larval zebrafish accumulate and remember motion evidence over many seconds and that the behavior is in close agreement with a bounded leaky integrator model. Through the use of brain-wide functional imaging, we identify three neuronal clusters in the anterior hindbrain that are well suited to execute the underlying computations. By relating the dynamics within these structures to individual behavioral choices, we propose a biophysically plausible circuit arrangement in which an evidence integrator competes against a dynamic decision threshold to activate a downstream motor command. Bahl and Engert show that larval zebrafish can temporally integrate sensory information. The authors then use brain-wide functional imaging to search for, characterize and model brain areas that are well-suited to implement the underlying processes.
ISSN:1097-6256
1546-1726
DOI:10.1038/s41593-019-0534-9