Widespread coding of navigational variables in prefrontal cortex.

ABSTRACT: To navigate effectively, we must represent information about our location in the environment. Traditional research highlights the role of the hippocampal complex in this process. Spurred by recent research highlighting the widespread cortical encoding of cognitive and motor variables previously thought to have localized function, we hypothesized that navigational variables would be likewise encoded widely, especially in the prefrontal cortex, which is associated with volitional behavior. We recorded neural activity from six prefrontal regions while macaques performed a foraging task in an open enclosure. In all regions, we found strong encoding of allocentric position, allocentric head direction, boundary distance, and linear and angular velocity. These encodings were not accounted for by

SUBMITTER: Maisson DJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10984098 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature