The cortex projects to the dorsal striatum topographically^1,2 to regulate behaviour^3,4,5, but spiking activity in the two structures has previously been reported to have markedly different relations to sensorimotor events^6,7,8,9. Here we show that the relationship between activity in the cortex and striatum is spatiotemporally precise, topographic, causal and invariant to behaviour. We simultaneously recorded activity across large regions of the cortex and across the width of the dorsal striatum in mice that performed a visually guided task. Striatal activity followed a mediolateral gradient in which behavioural correlates progressed from visual cue to response movement to reward licking. The summed activity in each part of the striatum closely and specifically mirrored activity in topographically associated cortical regions, regardless of task engagement. This relationship held for medium spiny neurons and fast-spiking interneurons, whereas the activity of tonically active neurons differed from cortical activity with stereotypical responses to sensory or reward events. Inactivation of the visual cortex abolished striatal responses to visual stimuli, supporting a causal role of cortical inputs in driving the striatum. Striatal visual responses were larger in trained mice than untrained mice, with no corresponding change in overall activity in the visual cortex. Striatal activity therefore reflects a consistent, causal and scalable topographical mapping of cortical activity.

皮层在地形学上投射到背侧纹状体^1,2以调节行为^3,4,5，但先前已报道这两个结构中的尖峰活动与感觉运动事件有明显不同的关系^6,7,8,9. 在这里，我们表明皮质和纹状体活动之间的关系在时空上是精确的、地形图的、因果关系的并且对行为是不变的。我们同时记录了执行视觉引导任务的小鼠大脑皮层大面积和背侧纹状体宽度的活动。纹状体活动遵循中间外侧梯度，其中行为相关性从视觉提示进展到反应运动再到奖励舔。无论任务参与如何，纹状体每个部分的总活动密切且具体地反映了地形相关皮层区域的活动。这种关系适用于中等多刺神经元和快速尖峰中间神经元，而强直活跃神经元的活动不同于对感觉或奖励事件有刻板反应的皮质活动。视觉皮层的失活消除了纹状体对视觉刺激的反应，支持了皮层输入在驱动纹状体中的因果作用。受过训练的小鼠的纹状体视觉反应比未受过训练的小鼠大，视觉皮层的整体活动没有相应的变化。因此，纹状体活动反映了皮质活动的一致、因果和可扩展的地形图。