Already in the 1940s, behavioural scientists observed that animals divide complex behaviours, such as mating, into sub-tasks: to reproduce, a stickleback fish needs to decide whether to fight a rival, care for offspring or build on the nest. For nest building, it needs to dig a hole with its fins, which is further composed of many granular movements. However, in order to reach its long-lasting goal all these steps must be orchestrated. How a brain coordinates such hierarchical behaviours, and whether neurons also mirror this hierarchy, was unknown.

Neuroscientists from the lab of Manuel Zimmer, professor at the University of Vienna and group leader at the Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP), now reported that hierarchical behaviour is controlled by hierarchical neuronal activity in the journal Neuron. [more]

Harris S. Kaplan, Oriana Salazar Thula, Niklas Khoss & Manuel Zimmer (2019). “Nested neuronal dynamics orchestrate a behavioral hierarchy across timescales.” Neuron, 28 November 2019. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2019.10.037