Fig. 6: Area RL is necessary for cross-modal generalization.
a Schematic timeline for loss-of-function experiments. b Cranial window with TeNT-P2A-GFP expression and atlas overlaid. c Example session before a rule-preserving modality switch from a tactile to a visual task. Color code as in Fig. 1d. d Session following the modality switch. e Area-based correlation between TeNT-P2A-GFP expression overlap and performance drop following modality switch. Color map indicates Pearson coefficients of correlation ρ. Areas with p < 0.05 are indicated with a thick border (RL: two-sided t test p = 0.047). f Average TeNT-P2A-GFP coverage for mice with impaired cross-modal generalization (see “Methods”). The map is displayed after subtraction of the average coverage across all injected mice. g Average TeNT-P2A-GFP coverage of mice where only dorsal neurons were silenced (N = 8 mice). Dots indicate center-of-mass location for each mouse. h Left: Average task performance and conditional lick probabilities across sessions for mice in panel g with rule-preserving modality switch (vertical dashed line). Shaded area: S.E.M. Color code as in panel c. Right: detection (purple) and discrimination (green) performance distribution for the session before and after the switch (two-sided paired t test comparing days, Det.: ***p = 1.6 × 10–6; Discr.: ***p = 7.2 × 10–5). Performances are also tested against chance level (two-sided t test, Det.: ***p = 2.9 × 10–7 and Blank p = 0.11; Discr.: ***p = 1.2 × 10–5 and Blank p = 0.13). Error bars: S.E.M. i Same as panel g but for TeNT-P2A-GFP expression in the ventral stream (N = 7 mice). j Same as panel h for ventral areas (two-sided paired t test comparing days, Det.: **p = 0.003; Discr.: **p = 0.008). Performances are also tested against chance level (two-sided t test, Det.: ***p = 1.3 × 10–6 and *p = 0.033; Discr.: ***p = 6.7 × 10–6 and *p = 0.027). k Comparison of performance change following rule-preserving switch between all mice expressing TeNT-P2A-GFP and control mice described in Fig. 1e and Supplementary Fig. 1b (N = 22 mice for TeNT and N = 10 mice for control, two-sided unpaired t test, ***p = 2.6 × 10−4). Error bars: S.E.M. l Learning rate estimated over first three sessions following modality switch for mice expressing TeNT-P2A-GFP with impaired cross-modal generalization and control mice trained to the auditory task first described in Fig. 2a (N = 14 mice for TeNT and N = 10 mice for control, two-sided unpaired t test, N.S. p = 0.11). Error bars: S.E.M.
