Frequency shifts and depth dependence of premotor beta band activity during perceptual decision-making
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Published version
Date
2019-01-03
Authors
Chandrasekaran, Chandramouli
Bray, Iliana E.
Shenoy, Krishna V.
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Published version
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Citation
Chandramouli Chandrasekaran, Iliana E Bray, Krishna V Shenoy. 2019. "Frequency shifts and depth dependence of premotor beta band activity during perceptual decision-making." Journal of Neuroscience, pp. 1420 - 1435. https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1066-18.2018
Abstract
Neural activity in the premotor and motor cortices shows prominent structure in the beta frequency range (13–30 Hz). Currently, the behavioral relevance of this beta band activity (BBA) is debated. The underlying source of motor BBA and how it changes as a function of cortical depth are also not completely understood. Here, we addressed these unresolved questions by investigating BBA recorded using laminar electrodes in the dorsal premotor cortex of 2 male rhesus macaques performing a visual reaction time (RT) reach discrimination task. We observed robust BBA before and after the onset of the visual stimulus but not during the arm movement. While poststimulus BBA was positively correlated with RT throughout the beta frequency range, prestimulus correlation varied by frequency. Low beta frequencies (∼12–20 Hz) were positively correlated with RT, and high beta frequencies (∼22–30 Hz) were negatively correlated with RT. Analysis and simulations suggested that these frequency-dependent correlations could emerge due to a shift in the component frequencies of the prestimulus BBA as a function of RT, such that faster RTs are accompanied by greater power in high beta frequencies. We also observed a laminar dependence of BBA, with deeper electrodes demonstrating stronger power in low beta frequencies both prestimulus and poststimulus. The heterogeneous nature of BBA and the changing relationship between BBA and RT in different task epochs may be a sign of the differential network dynamics involved in cue expectation, decision-making, motor preparation, and movement execution.
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