NMDAR hypofunction increases top-down influence on sensory processing

Converging evidence implicates NMDAR disruption in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia, a condition in which perceptual disturbances are prominent. To explore how NMDAR hypofunction causes perceptual symptoms we investigated activity in cortical sensory circuits in awake behaving mice during pharmacologically induced NMDAR hypofunction. We observed a reduction in sensory-driven activity in V1 while input from the anterior cingulate cortex simultaneously increased, suggesting NMDAR hypofunction may lead to altered perception by modifying the balance of top-down and bottom-up processing.