Backward masking in mice requires visual cortex

• Published in: Nature neuroscience Vol. 27; no. 1; pp. 129 - 136
• Main Authors: Gale, Samuel D., Strawder, Chelsea, Bennett, Corbett, Mihalas, Stefan, Koch, Christof, Olsen, Shawn R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Nature Publishing Group US 01.01.2024; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 631/378/2613; 631/378/3917; 64/60; Accuracy; Animal Genetics and Genomics; Behavior; Behavioral Sciences; Biological Techniques; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Circuits; Genetics; Human behavior; Human subjects; Information processing; Masking; Neurobiology; Neurosciences; Optics; Performance degradation; Response rates; Target masking; Visual cortex; Visual tasks
• ISSN: 1097-6256; 1546-1726; 1546-1726
• DOI: 10.1038/s41593-023-01488-0

Visual masking can reveal the timescale of perception, but the underlying circuit mechanisms are not understood. Here we describe a backward masking task in mice and humans in which the location of a stimulus is potently masked. Humans report reduced subjective visibility that tracks behavioral deficits. In mice, both masking and optogenetic silencing of visual cortex (V1) reduce performance over a similar timecourse but have distinct effects on response rates and accuracy. Activity in V1 is consistent with masked behavior when quantified over long, but not short, time windows. A dual accumulator model recapitulates both mouse and human behavior. The model and subjects’ performance imply that the initial spikes in V1 can trigger a correct response, but subsequent V1 activity degrades performance. Supporting this hypothesis, optogenetically suppressing mask-evoked activity in V1 fully restores accurate behavior. Together, these results demonstrate that mice, like humans, are susceptible to masking and that target and mask information is first confounded downstream of V1. The authors introduce a novel visual masking task and use recordings and optogenetics to reveal the role of visual cortex.