Posterior parietal cortex (PPC) in mice is an overloaded circuit. It has been credited with a ton of different functions. Riichiro Hira has disentangled some of it and provides a new view into its architecture in this work: biorxiv.org/content/10.110… (1/6)
With exquisite, precision functional mapping of cortical areas, Riichiro shows how various PPC functions are localized, thanks to his artful use of large scale 2-photon calcium imaging. (Including the Diesel2p nature.com/articles/s4146…, which @pacificoptica now sells.) (2/6)
The medial part of the PPC in mice had two areas that could be distinguished by their responses to visual and somatosensory stimuli, corresponding to higher visual areas A and AM, respectively. (3/6)
Area AM showed a balanced representation of both visual and choice information, while distinctive activity dynamics in area A activity were consistent with being responsible for working memory and postural information. (4/6)