A cortico-collicular circuit for orienting to shelter during escape.

ABSTRACT: When faced with predatory threats, escape towards shelter is an adaptive action that offers long-term protection against the attacker. Animals rely on knowledge of safe locations in the environment to instinctively execute rapid shelter-directed escape actions^1,2. Although previous work has identified neural mechanisms of escape initiation^3,4, it is not known how the escape circuit incorporates spatial information to execute rapid flights along the most efficient route to shelter. Here we show that the mouse retrosplenial cortex (RSP) and superior colliculus (SC) form a circuit that encodes the shelter-direction vector and is specifically required for accurately orienting to shelter during escape. Shelter direction is encoded in RSP and SC neurons in egocentric coordi

SUBMITTER: Campagner D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7614651 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature