Free choice activates a decision circuit between frontal and parietal cortex

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Abstract
In primates, planning movements to selected targets involves a number of areas in the anatomically connected frontal and parietal cortex, but how these areas of the brain interact is poorly understood. Pesaran et al. simultaneously recorded spikes and local field potentials in dorsal premotor and parietal reach region, and found that correlations between the two areas increase when monkeys are free to choose which movement among several alternatives to make than when they are following instructions. The authors hypothesize that such coordinated activity between the areas may influence movement choices. In primates, planning movements to selected targets involves a number of areas in anatomically connected frontal and parietal cortex, but how these areas interact is poorly understood. This paper simultaneously records spikes and local field potentials in dorsal pre-motor and parietal reach region and find that correlations between the two areas increase when monkeys choose which movement among several alternatives to make, rather than when they are following instructions. We often face alternatives that we are free to choose between. Planning movements to select an alternative involves several areas in frontal and parietal cortex1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11 that are anatomically connected into long-range circuits12. These areas must coordinate their activity to select a common movement goal, but how neural circuits make decisions remains poorly understood. Here we simultaneously record from the dorsal premotor area (PMd) in frontal cortex and the parietal reach region (PRR) in parietal cortex to investigate neural circuit mechanisms for decision making. We find that correlations in spike and local field potential (LFP) activity between these areas are greater when monkeys are freely making choices than when they are following instructions. We propose that a decision circuit featuring a sub-population of cells in frontal and parietal cortex may exchange information to coordinate activity between these areas. Cells participating in this decision circuit may influence movement choices by providing a common bias to the selection of movement goals.