Date of Graduation

5-2025

Document Type

Thesis (MS)

Program Affiliation

Neuroscience

Degree Name

Masters of Science (MS)

Advisor/Committee Chair

Michael Beierlein

Committee Member

Valentin Dragoi

Committee Member

Fabricio Do Monte

Committee Member

Yuri Dabaghian

Committee Member

Heidi Kaplan

Abstract

Physical activity has been shown to benefit cognitive and mental health by improving cerebrovascular perfusion and regulating hormone-mediated processes on a systemic level. However, the acute effects of physical activity, such as locomotion, on the neuronal circuits underlying cognitive processes have yet to be fully characterized. This body of work seeks to rectify this gap in knowledge through analysis of how both behavioral performance and neuronal activity signatures in visual and executive brain regions are modulated post-locomotion in rhesus macaques.

To this end, we performed high-yield electrophysiological recordings simultaneously from area V4, a mid-tier visual cortical region, and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC), a higher order executive area, while a rhesus macaque engaged in a visually guided behavioral choice task following a period of sustained physical activity. Further, we investigated how population and subpopulation activity within and between each area is modulated post-locomotion. This project combines behavioral metrics and neural data with a detection task paradigm divided into distinct pre- and post-locomotion phases, providing key insights into how perception of visual stimuli and behavioral choice based on visual perception is acutely regulated following periods of physical activity.

In addition to observed changes in behavioral performance and neural activity, we investigated correlations within and between V4 and dlPFC neuron populations and subpopulations, shedding light on how communication between sensory and executive areas may be influenced by physical activity such as locomotion. We found that during a period of time following locomotion, neural encoding of high contrast stimuli is increased in V4, but not dlPFC, while low contrast encoding was largely unaffected in each area. We further validated that communication within and between areas is improved following locomotion during the time of behavioral choice. Taken together, we illustrated how animal task performance and communication between specific neurons or neuron populations is modulated post-physical activity, furthering our understanding of how physical activity produces measurable changes in both behavior and cortical processes relevant to cognition and behavioral choice.

Keywords

locomotion, Utah array, neuron activity, rhesus macaque, V4, dlPFC, visually-guided decision-making, behavioral choice, detection

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