Subserving of Task Switching in Rabbits' Cingulate Cortex Neurons

Interruption of one behavior and transition to the execution of another are associated with cognitive load that leads to a decrease in task performance. The details of incipience of stable performance after switching on the level of single neurons remain unclear. Here we address two issues concerning the involvement of neurons in subserving of behavioral execution. First, the behavioral difference between the first and subsequent trials after switching lacks full explanation in terms of engagement of neurons that underlies task performance. Second, we asked whether functionally similar neurons belong to the same or different putative types of cells. We propose that the task switching requires selection of neurons akin to reinstatement of learning. Therefore, we hypothesized that the after-switch dynamics of neuronal activity is related to the degree of the neuron’s involvement in task execution. This link has been revealed in rabbits’ anterior and posterior cingulate single-cell activity recorded during alternation of two instrumental appetitive behaviors. We imply that the view of switching as a learning episode seems to disentangle the relationship between several aspects of cingulate activity: conflict monitoring, initiation and control of behavior after switching, novelty, and memory retrieval – they all include reorganization of individual experience. No relationship was found between the specialization of neurons and their putative cell-type. Since the cell-type coincides with the metabolic properties of neurons, we assume that the functional assembly of neurons is derived from complementarity of their divergent properties.