英国伦敦帝国理工学院Juan A. Gallego和加拿大蒙特利尔大学Matthew G. Perich共同合作，近期取得重要工作进展。他们研究发现了表现相似行为的动物之间保持的神经动力学。相关研究成果2023年11月8日在线发表于《自然》杂志上。

据介绍，同一物种的动物表现出相似的行为，这些行为有利于适应它们的身体和环境。这些行为是由演化时间尺度上的选择压力在物种层面形成的。然而，目前尚不清楚这些常见的行为适应是如何从每个人的特殊神经回路中产生的。由于个体共同的演化特定的发育程序，神经回路的整体组织在个体之间得以保留。电路层面的这种组织可能会限制神经活动，导致整个神经群体的低维潜在动力学。

研究人员提出，一个物种内的共享电路水平约束将导致个体之间适当保留潜在动态。研究人员分析了猴子和小鼠运动皮层的神经种群记录，以证明同一物种的个体在表现出类似行为时，其神经动力学得到了保留。当动物有意识地在没有明显行为的情况下规划未来的运动，并能够解码不同个体之间计划和正在进行的运动时，神经种群动力学也得到了保留。

此外，研究人员发现，保存下来的神经动力学从皮层区域延伸到背侧纹状体，这是一种演化上更古老的结构。最后，研究人员使用神经网络模型来证明行为相似性对于这种保存是必要但不充分的。研究人员假设，这些涌现的动力学是大脑发育演化约束的结果，因此反映了行为神经基础的基本特性。

附：英文原文

Title: Preserved neural dynamics across animals performing similar behaviour

Author: Safaie, Mostafa, Chang, Joanna C., Park, Junchol, Miller, Lee E., Dudman, Joshua T., Perich, Matthew G., Gallego, Juan A.

Issue&Volume: 2023-11-08

Abstract: Animals of the same species exhibit similar behaviours that are advantageously adapted to their body and environment. These behaviours are shaped at the species level by selection pressures over evolutionary timescales. Yet, it remains unclear how these common behavioural adaptations emerge from the idiosyncratic neural circuitry of each individual. The overall organization of neural circuits is preserved across individuals1 because of their common evolutionarily specified developmental programme2–4. Such organization at the circuit level may constrain neural activity5–8, leading to low-dimensional latent dynamics across the neural population9–11. Accordingly, here we suggested that the shared circuit-level constraints within a species would lead to suitably preserved latent dynamics across individuals. We analysed recordings of neural populations from monkey and mouse motor cortex to demonstrate that neural dynamics in individuals from the same species are surprisingly preserved when they perform similar behaviour. Neural population dynamics were also preserved when animals consciously planned future movements without overt behaviour12 and enabled the decoding of planned and ongoing movement across different individuals. Furthermore, we found that preserved neural dynamics extend beyond cortical regions to the dorsal striatum, an evolutionarily older structure13,14. Finally, we used neural network models to demonstrate that behavioural similarity is necessary but not sufficient for this preservation. We posit that these emergent dynamics result from evolutionary constraints on brain development and thus reflect fundamental properties of the neural basis of behaviour. Recordings of neural populations from motor cortex and striatum spanning monkeys and mice demonstrate that neural dynamics in individuals from the same species are preserved when they perform similar behaviour.

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06714-0

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06714-0