Superior colliculus neurons encode and causally shape somatosensory decisions

The ability of an organism to attend to, and orient towards, relevant stimuli is critical for survival. In the mammalian brain, a principal brain region performing this function is the superior colliculus (SC). Despite its important role in attention and orienting movements, little is known about the role the SC plays in sensory decisions. Using Neuropixel recording and optogenetic perturbation of neuronal activity in awake behaving mice, we provide a quantitative link between the activity of neurons in the SC and the behavioural outcome during a whisker-dependent sensory detection task. Consistent with the idea that the SC contributes to sensory decision-making, the activity of SC neurons was correlated with behavioural performance. Furthermore, we found that optogenetic inhibition of the SC reduced behavioural performance without reducing sensitivity or reaction time. These findings indicate that the SC both encodes and causally shapes sensory decisions during a whisker-dependent task.