Figure 8: Behavioural relevance of rule-selective neurons.

(a) Responses of a ‘nonmatch’-preferring neuron during correct and error trials. In error trials, the firing rate for the ‘nonmatch’ rule was reduced, and the firing rate for the ‘match’ rule was increased. (b) Quality of rule coding in error trials. Histogram of AUROC values of all rule neurons in error trials. Pink bars represent neurons preferring the ‘nonmatch’ rule in correct trials, blue bars represent neurons preferring the ‘match’ rule in correct trials. (c) Average AUROC values of all rule neurons during correct and error trials. Error bars indicate s.e.m., asterisks indicate significant differences (**P<0.001, Wilcoxon-signed rank test, n=33 for ‘match’, 31 for ‘nonmatch’). (d) Firing rate of all rule neurons during correct and error trials, normalized so that each neuron’s response to its preferred rule in correct trials equals 1. Error bars indicate s.e.m., asterisks indicate significant differences (**P<0.001, Wilcoxon-signed rank test, n=68). (e) Decoding time course for correct and error trials, using a model trained on correct trials. Dashed line indicates chance level. Vertical lines mark the beginning of the rule-cue period, end of the rule cue period and end of the Delay2 period.