Distributed sensory coding by cerebellar complex spikes in units of cortical segments

Abstract

Sensory processing is essential for motor control. Climbing fibers from the inferior olive transmit sensory signals to Purkinje cells, but how the signals are represented in the cerebellar cortex remains elusive. To examine the olivocerebellar organization of the mouse brain, we perform quantitative Ca²⁺ imaging to measure complex spikes (CSs) evoked by climbing fiber inputs over the entire dorsal surface of the cerebellum simultaneously. The surface is divided into approximately 200 segments, each composed of ∼100 Purkinje cells that fire CSs synchronously. Our in vivo imaging reveals that, although stimulation of four limb muscles individually elicits similar global CS responses across nearly all segments, the timing and location of a stimulus are derived by Bayesian inference from coordinated activation and inactivation of multiple segments on a single trial basis. We propose that the cerebellum performs segment-based, distributed-population coding that represents the conditional probability of sensory events.

Keywords: Bayesian inference; Purkinje cell; cerebellum; climbing fiber; fluorescence resonance energy transfer; genetically encoded calcium indicator; neural coding; olivocerebellar system; somatotopy; transgenic mouse.