Animals perform flexible goal-directed behaviours to satisfy their basic physiological needs1–12. However, little is known about how unitary behaviours are chosen under conflicting needs. Here we reveal principles by which the brain resolves such conflicts between needs across time. We developed an experimental paradigm in which a hungry and thirsty mouse is given free choices between equidistant food and water. We found that mice collect need-appropriate rewards by structuring their choices into persistent bouts with stochastic transitions. High-density electrophysiological recordings during this behaviour revealed distributed single neuron and neuronal population correlates of a persistent internal goal state guiding future choices of the mouse. We captured these phenomena with a mathematical model describing a global need state that noisily diffuses across a shifting energy landscape. Model simulations successfully predicted behavioural and neural data, including population ne
Optics industry veteran Christopher Meetze named Sales Manager at New Scale Technologies optics.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from optics.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
New Scale Technologies has named Bruce Hayward to the newly created position of chief operating officer. Hayward has a bachelor’s degree in accounting and finance from Western Michigan University and an MBA in manufacturing leadership from Rochester Institute of Technology. The information in the People and Awards section is provided by the submitter. The Rochester .September 16, 2022