Novelty and surprise-timing are broadcast by the basal forebrain

The basal forebrain (BF) is a principal source of modulation of the neocortex, and is thought to regulate cognitive functions such as attention, motivation, and learning by broadcasting information about the behavioral salience of events. An event can be salient because it is novel, surprising, or associated with reward prediction errors. But to date, the type of salience-related information the BF broadcasts is unclear. Here, we report that many BF neurons display phasic excitatory bursting that rapidly conveys the magnitude, probability, and timing of primary reinforcements. The same BF neurons also discriminate fully expected novel visual objects from familiar objects and respond to object-sequence violations, regardless of their relevance for subsequent behaviors, suggesting that they are not dedicated to signaling information about primary reinforcements. A different group of BF neurons displayed ramping activations that predicted the time of novel and surprising events. Their ramping was highly sensitive to the subjects confidence in event timing. Hence, BF neurons signal statistics about time and salience. Their activity may organize cortical computations to facilitate accurate behavioral responses to a diverse set of expected and ongoing events.