Inherent coupling of perceptual judgments to actions in the mouse cortex

Neural activity during perceptual tasks is distributed across many cortical regions, but it remains unclear where perceptual judgments are made and whether they are encoded independently of the resulting actions. To address these questions, we designed a vibrotactile detection task in which mice flexibly switched between standard and reversed contingency blocks, requiring them to lick when a stimulus was present or absent, depending on the block. A cortex-wide optogenetic screen revealed that the premotor cortex is important for perceptual judgments rather than for the ability to lick. However, we did not find action-independent coding of perceptual judgments in the premotor cortex or other cortical regions; instead, coding of perceptual judgments was coupled to actions. Finally, we identified a subset of premotor cortex cells whose activity encoded the current block identity. Based on these findings, we propose a model in which vibrotactile perceptual judgments are inherently, but flexibly, coupled to actions.