Population analyses reveal heterogenous encoding in the medial prefrontal cortex during naturalistic foraging.

ABSTRACT: Foraging in the wild requires coordinated switching of critical functions, including goal-oriented navigation and context-appropriate action selection. Nevertheless, few studies have examined how different functions are represented in the brain during naturalistic foraging. To address this question, we recorded multiple single-unit activities from the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) of rats seeking a sucrose reward in the presence of an unpredictable attack posed by a robotic predator (Lobsterbot). Simultaneously recorded ensemble activities from neurons were analyzed in reference to various behavioral indices as the animal moved freely across the foraging area (F) between the nest (N) and the goal (E) area. An artificial neural network, trained with simultaneously recorded neural activity

SUBMITTER: Jeong JH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12768408 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature