Transforming a head direction signal into a goal-oriented steering command

Elena A. Westeinde, Emily Kellogg, Paul M. Dawson, Jenny Lu, Lydia Hamburg, Benjamin Midler, Shaul Druckmann and Rachel I. Wilson ()
Additional contact information
Elena A. Westeinde: Harvard Medical School
Emily Kellogg: Harvard Medical School
Paul M. Dawson: Harvard Medical School
Jenny Lu: Harvard Medical School
Lydia Hamburg: Stanford University School of Medicine
Benjamin Midler: Stanford University School of Medicine
Shaul Druckmann: Stanford University School of Medicine
Rachel I. Wilson: Harvard Medical School

Nature, 2024, vol. 626, issue 8000, 819-826

Abstract: Abstract To navigate, we must continuously estimate the direction we are headed in, and we must correct deviations from our goal1. Direction estimation is accomplished by ring attractor networks in the head direction system2,3. However, we do not fully understand how the sense of direction is used to guide action. Drosophila connectome analyses4,5 reveal three cell populations (PFL3R, PFL3L and PFL2) that connect the head direction system to the locomotor system. Here we use imaging, electrophysiology and chemogenetic stimulation during navigation to show how these populations function. Each population receives a shifted copy of the head direction vector, such that their three reference frames are shifted approximately 120° relative to each other. Each cell type then compares its own head direction vector with a common goal vector; specifically, it evaluates the congruence of these vectors via a nonlinear transformation. The output of all three cell populations is then combined to generate locomotor commands. PFL3R cells are recruited when the fly is oriented to the left of its goal, and their activity drives rightward turning; the reverse is true for PFL3L. Meanwhile, PFL2 cells increase steering speed, and are recruited when the fly is oriented far from its goal. PFL2 cells adaptively increase the strength of steering as directional error increases, effectively managing the tradeoff between speed and accuracy. Together, our results show how a map of space in the brain can be combined with an internal goal to generate action commands, via a transformation from world-centric coordinates to body-centric coordinates.

Date: 2024
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07039-2 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:626:y:2024:i:8000:d:10.1038_s41586-024-07039-2

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07039-2

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().