The Interaction of Cue Type and Its Associated Behavioral Response Dissociates the Neural Activity between the Perirhinal and Postrhinal Cortices

The perirhinal cortex (PER) and postrhinal cortex (POR) in the medial temporal lobe are commonly described as two distinct systems that process nonspatial and spatial information, respectively. Recent findings suggest that the two regions exhibit functional overlap when processing stimulus information, especially when associative responses are required in goal-directed behavior. However, we lack the neural correlates of this. In the current study, we recorded spiking activities for single units of the PER and POR as rats were required to choose a response associated with the identity of a visual object or scene stimulus. We found that similar proportions of cells fired selectively for either scene or object between the two regions. In the PER and POR, response-selective neurons showed higher contrast for different responses than stimulus-selective cells did for stimuli. More cells fired selectively for specific choice response in the POR than in the PER. The differential firing patterns of the PER and POR were best explained when the stimulus and response components were considered together: Stimulus-selective cells were modulated more by the response in the POR than in the PER, whereas response-selective cells in the PER were modulated more by object information than by scenes. Our results suggest that in a goal-directed memory task, the information processing in the PER and POR may be dynamically modulated not only by input stimulus information but also by the associated choice behavior and stimulus-response interaction.

Automated summary

The perirhinal cortex (PER) and postrhinal cortex (POR) are two distinct systems that process nonspatial and spatial information, respectively. However, recent research suggests that these two regions may exhibit functional overlap in goal-directed behavior. In a study involving rats, it was found that both PER and POR showed selective firing for object and scene stimuli, with a higher proportion of cells in POR firing selectively for specific choice responses. The firing patterns of PER and POR were best explained when considering both stimulus and response components, indicating that stimulus-selective cells in POR were more modulated by response, while response-selective cells in PER were more influenced by object information.