@article {68829, title = {Brain-wide analysis reveals movement encoding structured across and within brain areas}, journal = {Nat Neurosci}, year = {2025}, month = {2025 Nov 18}, abstract = {

Movement-related activity has been detected across much of the brain, including sensory and motor regions. However, much remains unknown regarding the distribution of movement-related activity across brain regions, and how this activity relates to neural computation. Here we analyzed movement-related activity in brain-wide recordings of more than 50,000 neurons in mice performing a decision-making task. We used multiple machine learning methods to predict neural activity from videography and found that movement-related signals differed across areas, with stronger movement signals close to the motor periphery and in motor-associated subregions. Delineating activity that predicts or follows movement revealed fine-scale structure of sensory and motor encoding across and within brain areas. Through single-trial video-based predictions of behavior, we identified activity modulation by uninstructed movements and their impact on choice-related activity analysis. Our work provides a map of movement encoding across the brain and approaches for linking neural activity, uninstructed movements and decision-making.

}, doi = {10.1038/s41593-025-02114-x}, url = {https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-025-02114-x}, author = {Ziyue Aiden Wang and Susu Chen and Yi Liu and Dave Liu and Karel Svoboda and Nuo Li and Shaul Druckmann} } @article {68647, title = {Brain-wide neural activity underlying memory-guided movement}, journal = {bioRxiv}, year = {2023}, month = {2023 Mar 02}, abstract = {

Behavior requires neural activity across the brain, but most experiments probe neurons in a single area at a time. Here we used multiple Neuropixels probes to record neural activity simultaneously in brain-wide circuits, in mice performing a memory-guided directional licking task. We targeted brain areas that form multi-regional loops with anterior lateral motor cortex (ALM), a key circuit node mediating the behavior. Neurons encoding sensory stimuli, choice, and actions were distributed across the brain. However, in addition to ALM, coding of choice was concentrated in subcortical areas receiving input from ALM, in an ALM-dependent manner. Choice signals were first detected in ALM and the midbrain, followed by the thalamus, and other brain areas. At the time of movement initiation, choice-selective activity collapsed across the brain, followed by new activity patterns driving specific actions. Our experiments provide the foundation for neural circuit models of decision-making and movement initiation.

}, doi = {10.1101/2023.03.01.530520}, url = {https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.03.01.530520}, author = {Susu Chen and Yi Liu and Ziyue Wang and Jennifer Colonell and Liu D. Liu and Han Hou and Nai-Wen Tien and Tim Wang and Timothy Harris and Shaul Druckmann and Nuo Li and Karel Svoboda} } @article {46307, title = {A motor cortex circuit for motor planning and movement}, journal = {Nature}, volume = {519}, year = {2015}, month = {2015 Feb 25}, pages = {51-6}, abstract = {

Activity in motor cortex predicts specific movements seconds before they occur, but how this preparatory activity relates to upcoming movements is obscure. We dissected the conversion of preparatory activity to movement within a structured motor cortex circuit. An anterior lateral region of the mouse cortex (a possible homologue of premotor cortex in primates) contains equal proportions of intermingled neurons predicting ipsi- or contralateral movements, yet unilateral inactivation of this cortical region during movement planning disrupts contralateral movements. Using cell-type-specific electrophysiology, cellular imaging and optogenetic perturbation, we show that layer 5 neurons projecting within the cortex have unbiased laterality. Activity with a contralateral population bias arises specifically in layer 5 neurons projecting to the brainstem, and only late during movement planning. These results reveal the transformation of distributed preparatory activity into movement commands within hierarchically organized cortical circuits.

}, doi = {10.1038/nature14178}, author = {Nuo Li and Tsai-Wen Chen and Zengcai V. Guo and Charles R. Gerfen and Karel Svoboda} }