A brain-wide map of neural activity during complex behaviour

International Brain Laboratory, Angelaki, Dora, Benson, Brandon, Benson, Julius, Birman, Daniel, Bonacchi, Niccolò, Bougrova, Kcénia, Bruijns, Sebastian A, Carandini, Matteo, Catarino, Joana A, Chapuis, Gaelle A, Churchland, Anne K, Dan, Yang, Davatolhagh, Felicia, Dayan, Peter, DeWitt, Eric Ej, Engel, Tatiana A, Fabbri, Michele, Faulkner, Mayo, Fiete, Ila Rani, Findling, Charles, Freitas-Silva, Laura, Gerçek, Berk, Harris, Kenneth D, Häusser, Michael, Hofer, Sonja B, Hu, Fei, Hubert, Félix, Huntenburg, Julia M, Khanal, Anup, Krasniak, Christopher S, Langdon, Christopher, Langfield, Christopher, Lau, Petrina YP, Mainen, Zachary F, Meijer, Guido T, Miska, Nathaniel J, Mrsic-Flogel, Thomas D, Noel, Jean-Paul, Nylund, Kai, Pan-Vazquez, Alejandro, Paninski, Liam, Pouget, Alexandre, Rossant, Cyrille, Roth, Noam, Schaeffer, Rylan, Schartner, Michael, Shi, Yanliang, Socha, Karolina Z, Steinmetz, Nicholas A, Svoboda, Karel, Urai, Anne E, Wells, Miles J, West, Steven J, Whiteway, Matthew R, Winter, Olivier, Witten, Ilana B (September 2025) A brain-wide map of neural activity during complex behaviour. Nature, 645 (8079). pp. 177-191. ISSN 0028-0836

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Abstract

A key challenge in neuroscience is understanding how neurons in hundreds of interconnected brain regions integrate sensory inputs with previous expectations to initiate movements and make decisions1. It is difficult to meet this challenge if different laboratories apply different analyses to different recordings in different regions during different behaviours. Here we report a comprehensive set of recordings from 621,733 neurons recorded with 699 Neuropixels probes across 139 mice in 12 laboratories. The data were obtained from mice performing a decision-making task with sensory, motor and cognitive components. The probes covered 279 brain areas in the left forebrain and midbrain and the right hindbrain and cerebellum. We provide an initial appraisal of this brain-wide map and assess how neural activity encodes key task variables. Representations of visual stimuli transiently appeared in classical visual areas after stimulus onset and then spread to ramp-like activity in a collection of midbrain and hindbrain regions that also encoded choices. Neural responses correlated with impending motor action almost everywhere in the brain. Responses to reward delivery and consumption were also widespread. This publicly available dataset represents a resource for understanding how computations distributed across and within brain areas drive behaviour.

Item Type: Paper
Subjects: organism description > animal
organs, tissues, organelles, cell types and functions > cell types and functions > cell types
organs, tissues, organelles, cell types and functions > cell types and functions > cell types
organs, tissues, organelles, cell types and functions > cell types and functions > cell types
organs, tissues, organelles, cell types and functions > cell types and functions
organism description > animal > mammal
organism description > animal > mammal > rodent > mouse
organs, tissues, organelles, cell types and functions > cell types and functions > cell types > neurons
organs, tissues, organelles, cell types and functions > cell types and functions > cell types > neurons
organs, tissues, organelles, cell types and functions > cell types and functions > cell types > neurons
organs, tissues, organelles, cell types and functions
organism description > animal > mammal > rodent
CSHL Authors:
Communities: CSHL labs > Engel lab
CSHL labs > Zador lab
SWORD Depositor: CSHL Elements
Depositing User: CSHL Elements
Date: September 2025
Date Deposited: 06 Oct 2025 18:42
Last Modified: 06 Oct 2025 18:42
PMCID: PMC12408349
Related URLs:
URI: https://repository.cshl.edu/id/eprint/41978

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