PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Edward Zagha
AU  - Jeffrey C. Erlich
AU  - Soohyun Lee
AU  - Gyorgy Lur
AU  - Daniel H. O'Connor
AU  - Nicholas A. Steinmetz
AU  - Carsen Stringer
AU  - Hongdian Yang
TI  - The Importance of Accounting for Movement When Relating Neuronal Activity to Sensory and Cognitive Processes
AID  - 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1919-21.2021
DP  - 2022 Feb 23
TA  - The Journal of Neuroscience
PG  - 1375--1382
VI  - 42
IP  - 8
4099  - http://www.jneurosci.org/content/42/8/1375.short
4100  - http://www.jneurosci.org/content/42/8/1375.full
SO  - J. Neurosci.2022 Feb 23; 42
AB  - A surprising finding of recent studies in mouse is the dominance of widespread movement-related activity throughout the brain, including in early sensory areas. In awake subjects, failing to account for movement risks misattributing movement-related activity to other (e.g., sensory or cognitive) processes. In this article, we (1) review task designs for separating task-related and movement-related activity, (2) review three “case studies” in which not considering movement would have resulted in critically different interpretations of neuronal function, and (3) discuss functional couplings that may prevent us from ever fully isolating sensory, motor, and cognitive-related activity. Our main thesis is that neural signals related to movement are ubiquitous, and therefore ought to be considered first and foremost when attempting to correlate neuronal activity with task-related processes.