Brain-wide pathways for object identity and location are dominated by internal strategies

It is long thought that higher-order sensory processing is divided into two specialized cortical streams that encode in parallel either the identity of an object or its location (i.e., ‘what’ and ‘where’ streams). Here, using the mouse whisker system, we demonstrate an existence of two alternating brain-wide (beyond cortex) subnetworks that are primarily driven by internal strategies, rather than external parameters. We combine simultaneous brain-wide neuronal recordings in male mice trained to identify or locate a certain stimulus.

We find that mice deploy either an active search or a passive sensation strategy during task performance. These strategies respectively drive two distinct brain-wide subnetworks, frontal and posterior related to an active and passive strategy respectively. Using a computational framework, we show that the posterior subnetwork encoded additional internal strategic parameters such as trial history, the first task of the day, and training history.

When discarding the dominance of the frontal subnetwork, specific areas within the posterior subnetwork encoded meaningful task information regarding object identity and location. Integrated together, these two subnetworks may comprise optimal sensory integration. We would like to thank Malak Abumadi for help with genotyping and mouse maintenance.

Bar Friedmann and Shaked Yadlin for help with data analysis. Fritjof Helmchen and Philipp Bethge for help with the transgenic mouse lines. The Wohl Institute for Translational Medicine at Hadassah Hebrew University Medical Center for assistance with MRI histology.

Yael Bitterman and Yasir Gallero-Salas for constructive feedback on the manuscript. This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation program (ERC Starting Grant, MESO-AG, 101040378) and a Hebrew University start-up grant. Department of Medical Neurobiology, Faculty of Medicine, The Institute for Medical Research Israel-Canada (IMRIC), The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel Renana Oz Rokach, Odeya Marmor, Yoav Levy & Ariel Gilad The authors declare no competing interests.

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