Cortical circuits process both sensory and motor information in animals performing perceptual tasks. However, it is still unclear how sensory inputs are transformed into motor signals in the cortex to initiate goal-directed actions. In this study, we found that a visual-to-motor inhibitory circuit in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) triggers precise action in mice performing visual Go/No-go tasks. Three distinct features of ACC neurons—visual amplitudes of sensory neurons, suppression times of motor neurons and network activity from other neurons—predicted response times of the mice. Moreover, optogenetic activation of visual inputs in the ACC, which drives fast-spiking sensory neurons, prompted task-relevant actions in mice by suppressing ACC motor neurons and disinhibiting downstream striatal neurons. Notably, when mice terminated actions in response to stop signals, both motor neuron and network activity increased. Collectively, our data demonstrate that visual inputs to the frontal cortex trigger gated feedforward inhibition to initiate goal-directed actions.

皮层电路处理执行感知任务的动物的感觉和运动信息。然而，尚不清楚感觉输入如何在皮层中转化为运动信号以启动目标导向的动作。在这项研究中，我们发现前扣带皮层 (ACC) 中的视觉到运动抑制回路会触发执行视觉 Go/No-go 任务的小鼠的精确动作。ACC神经元的三个不同特征——感觉神经元的视觉幅度、运动神经元的抑制时间和来自其他神经元的网络活动——预测了小鼠的反应时间。此外，ACC 中视觉输入的光遗传学激活，驱动快速刺激的感觉神经元，通过抑制 ACC 运动神经元和去抑制下游纹状体神经元，促使小鼠的任务相关行为。尤其，当小鼠响应停止信号而终止动作时，运动神经元和网络活动都增加了。总的来说，我们的数据表明额叶皮层的视觉输入触发门控前馈抑制以启动目标导向的动作。