Neural mechanisms for resilient sensory computation under metabolic stress
Food-restricted mice can solve visual discrimination tasks despite reduced synaptic currents and increased noise resulting from cellular changes in the primary visual cortex. Combining neural recordings and modeling, we study the population structure of the noise and show it is mainly concentrated along task-irrelevant directions in high-dimensional population activity, hence preserving coding on the low-dimensional stimulus manifold. In addition, we predict that food restriction shortens decision times, conserving energy but limiting the evidence accumulation needed for fine discrimination.
Authors
- Rémi Monasson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4459-0204)
- Nathalie L. Rochefort (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3498-6221)
- Zahid Padamsey (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9177-8210)
- Sebastian H. Castedo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8867-5736)
Institutions
- École Normale Supérieure - PSL (FR)
- Laboratoire de Physique de l'Ecole Normale Supérieure (FR)
- Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar (QA)
- Weill Cornell Medicine (US)
- University of Edinburgh (GB)
Publication Details
- Journal
- bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
- Published
- 2026-10-30
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.10.29.761790
- Primary Topic
- Neural dynamics and brain function
- Type
- preprint
Funders
- Qatar Foundation
- Wellcome Trust
- European Commission
- Agence Nationale de la Recherche
- Simons Initiative for the Developing Brain
- Directorate for Biological Sciences
- Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council