Anticipatory Neural Activity Improves the Decoding Accuracy for Dynamic Head-Direction Signals.

ABSTRACT: Insects and vertebrates harbor specific neurons that encode the animal's head direction (HD) and provide an internal compass for spatial navigation. Each HD cell fires most strongly in one preferred direction. As the animal turns its head, however, HD cells in rat anterodorsal thalamic nucleus (ADN) and other brain areas fire already before their preferred direction is reached, as if the neurons anticipated the future HD. This phenomenon has been explained at a mechanistic level, but a functional interpretation is still missing. To close this gap, we use a computational approach based on the movement statistics of male rats and a simple model for the neural responses within the ADN HD network. Network activity is read out using population vectors in a biologically plausible manner, so that

SUBMITTER: Zirkelbach J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6462449 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature