A cognitive representation in primary visual cortex modulated by vision

Abstract

Primary visual cortex (V1) is a critical substrate for mammalian vision. Traditionally, visual inputs are thought to be the main drivers of V1 activity, with internal signals playing a modulatory role. Here we show that this relationship is inverted for a large fraction of V1 neurons. In rats completing a navigation task in darkness, these neurons encoded progress along physically distinct paths with a shared turn structure. Under illumination, visual stimuli gain-modulated this path-invariant activity rather than replacing it with stimulus-driven responses. Path-invariant V1 neurons were also preferentially coordinated with hippocampal ensembles during sharp-wave ripples, linking them to a brain-wide network involved in learning. These findings establish that an internal model of the world can serve as a primary driver of activity in sensory cortex.

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BibTeX

@misc{lee2026cognitive,
  title = {{A cognitive representation in primary visual cortex modulated by vision}},
  author = {K. H. Lee and P. Adenekan and F. Gao and J. Zhou and J. Hernandez and A. Yorita and R. Haque and K. Kay and M. Scanziani and L. Frank},
  howpublished = {bioRxiv},
  year = {2026},
  month = aug,
  doi = {10.64898/2026.08.29.748029},
  url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.08.29.748029v1},
  note = {CC BY},
}

RIS

TY  - UNPB
TI  - A cognitive representation in primary visual cortex modulated by vision
AU  - K. H. Lee
AU  - P. Adenekan
AU  - F. Gao
AU  - J. Zhou
AU  - J. Hernandez
AU  - A. Yorita
AU  - R. Haque
AU  - K. Kay
AU  - M. Scanziani
AU  - L. Frank
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/08/29
PB  - bioRxiv
DO  - 10.64898/2026.08.29.748029
UR  - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.08.29.748029v1
AB  - Primary visual cortex (V1) is a critical substrate for mammalian vision. Traditionally, visual inputs are thought to be the main drivers of V1 activity, with internal signals playing a modulatory role. Here we show that this relationship is inverted for a large fraction of V1 neurons. In rats completing a navigation task in darkness, these neurons encoded progress along physically distinct paths with a shared turn structure. Under illumination, visual stimuli gain-modulated this path-invariant activity rather than replacing it with stimulus-driven responses. Path-invariant V1 neurons were also preferentially coordinated with hippocampal ensembles during sharp-wave ripples, linking them to a brain-wide network involved in learning. These findings establish that an internal model of the world can serve as a primary driver of activity in sensory cortex.
ER  -

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