288-Motor Cortex Connectivity and Goal-Directed Reaching
This article examines the relationship between neural connectivity and activity in the mouse anterior lateral motor cortex (ALM) during naturalistic, goal-directed tongue reaching for water rewards. Using all-optical methods that combine volumetric calcium imaging with two-photon optogenetic stimulation, the researchers map causal excitatory connections between thousands of layer 2/3 neurons. The study finds that ALM neurons are tuned to target location and reward outcome, and that connectivity exhibits a multi-scale columnar architecture with local, like-to-like excitation and longer-range…
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