Categories: ECONOMY

A virtual rodent predicts the structure of neural activity across behaviors


Animals have exquisite control of their bodies, allowing them to perform a diverse range of behaviors. How such control is implemented by the brain, however, remains unclear. Advancing our understanding requires models that can relate principles of control to the structure of neural activity in behaving animals. To facilitate this, we built a ‘virtual rodent’, in which an artificial neural network actuates a biomechanically realistic model of the rat in a physics simulator. We used deep reinforcement learning to train the virtual agent to imitate the behavior of freely-moving rats, thus allowing us to compare neural activity recorded in real rats to the network activity of a virtual rodent mimicking their behavior. We found that neural activity in the sensorimotor striatum and motor cortex was better predicted by the virtual rodent’s network activity than by any features of the real rat’s movements, consistent with both regions implementing inverse dynamics. Furthermore, the network’s latent variability predicted the structure of neural variability across behaviors and afforded robustness in a way consistent with the minimal intervention principle of optimal feedback control. These results demonstrate how physical simulation of biomechanically realistic virtual animals can help interpret the structure of neural activity across behavior and relate it to theoretical principles of motor control.

Here is the new Nature article by Diego Aldarnado, et.al.  Via @sebkrier.




Source link

Mainedigitalnews.com

Share
Published by
Mainedigitalnews.com

Recent Posts

Myanmar leader heads to Bangkok as quake deaths climb to 3,000

Myanmar's junta chief Min Aung Hlaing is in Thailand for a regional summit as his…

14 hours ago

Kementec Solutions Partners With Bioz to Enhance Researcher Experience Through Advanced Digital Integration

PALO ALTO, Calif., April 3, 2025 (Newswire.com) - Bioz, Inc., a pioneer in AI-powered publication…

15 hours ago

NY Rangers Game 75: Rangers vs Minnesota

The Rangers need to start winning games if they wish to extend their season by…

16 hours ago

Alabama, Minnesota lawmakers join US states pushing for Bitcoin reserves

Lawmakers in the US states of Minnesota and Alabama filed companion bills to identical existing…

16 hours ago

‘Radically different from any other show’

Apple TV+Jon Hamm excels in Apple TV+'s "emotionally real but absurdist" drama about a desperate…

16 hours ago

Sell Floyd Bennett Field!

I’ve been shouting Sell! for many years. Perhaps now is the chance to do it.…

17 hours ago