Journal: Nature Communications

Article Title: Neural coding of choice and outcome are modulated by uncertainty in orbitofrontal but not secondary motor cortex

doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-63866-5

Figure Lengend Snippet: A Schematic of trial timeline: Rats learn in an operant chamber outfitted with a touchscreen with three different interaction zones (left, center, and right) and a reward port on the opposite side of the chamber. A white circle is presented in the middle zone for 40 s, during which the rat is required to nosepoke to initiate a trial. Subsequently, two identical stimuli are presented on the left and right sides of the screen for 60 s. The rat is required to nosepoke one of these stimuli, selecting either the left or right side. One of the sides has a higher reward probability than the other. The rat either gets rewarded 1 s after the nosepoke or undergoes a 5-second timeout. There is a 10 s Intertrial Interval (ITI) before a new trial begins. B A session consists of 3 blocks of 75 trials each, with two reversals, with the last block increasing in uncertainty. C Following surgery, recovery, handling, and pretraining to respond to touchscreen stimuli on either the left or the right, different schedules are introduced, with each schedule administered across two days each, and increasing in uncertainty. D Sample performance on Schedule 2, where the rat matches the value of the left side and adapts its behavior following a reversal. E Probabilities of choosing the better option, mean ± SEM (shading). There was a significant difference in accuracy, p(Better), by lens implant area (Supplementary Table ). F – H Performance measures by lens implant region to include latencies for Initiation ( F ) group sizes are: n = 1286, n = 1286, n = 1301, n = 1716, n = 1717, n = 1707 respectively; Choice ( G ) group sizes are: n = 1284, n = 1291, n = 1305, n = 1727, n = 1730, n = 1736 respectively; and Reward ( H ) group sizes are: n = 830, n = 851, n = 668, n = 1149, n = 1172, n = 1023 respectively for M2- and OFC-lens implanted rats across all the schedules. The center of each box plot is the median. I Reconstructions of calcium indicator GCaMP6f and GRIN lens implant in all rats. J Photomicrograph of a lens in OFC. K Photomicrograph of a lens in M2. Coronal sections reprinted from The rat brain in stereotaxic coordinates, 7th edition, Paxinos, G. & Watson, C., 2014, with permission from Elsevier. Source data are provided as a Source Data file .

Article Snippet: A 1 μL Hamilton syringe and pump delivered GCaMP6f (AVV9-CamKII-GCaMP6f-WPRE-SV40, Addgene, # 100834) through cannulae and injectors in either OFC or M2.

Techniques: Blocking Assay