Topic: state-tuned neurons

New tasks are often similar in structure to old ones. Animals that take advantage of such conserved or “abstract” task structures can master new tasks with minimal training. To understand the neural basis of this abstraction, we developed a novel behavioural paradigm for mice and recorded from their medial frontal neurons as they learned. Freely moving mice learned multiple tasks where they had to visit 4 rewarded locations in sequence (ABCD) on a 3x3 spatial maze. Tasks shared the same circular transition structure (… ABCDABCD …) but differed in the locations and geometric arrangement of rewa