A brain-wide map of neural activity during complex behaviour

Dora Angelaki, Brandon Benson, Julius Benson, Daniel Birman, Niccolò Bonacchi, Kcénia Bougrova, Sebastian A. Bruijns, Matteo Carandini, Joana A. Catarino, Gaelle A. Chapuis, Anne K. Churchland, Yang Dan, Felicia Davatolhagh, Peter Dayan, Eric EJ DeWitt, Tatiana A. Engel, Michele Fabbri, Mayo Faulkner, Ila Rani Fiete, Charles Findling, Laura Freitas-Silva, Berk Gerçek, Kenneth D. Harris, Michael Häusser, Sonja B. Hofer, Fei Hu, Félix Hubert, Julia M. Huntenburg, Anup Khanal, Christopher S. Krasniak, Christopher Langdon, Christopher Langfield, Petrina Y. P. Lau, Zachary F. Mainen, Guido T. Meijer, Nathaniel J. Miska, Thomas D. Mrsic-Flogel, Jean-Paul Noel, Kai Nylund, Alejandro Pan-Vazquez, Liam Paninski, Alexandre Pouget, Cyrille Rossant, Noam Roth, Rylan Schaeffer, Michael Schartner, Yanliang Shi, Karolina Z. Socha, Nicholas A. Steinmetz, Karel Svoboda, Anne E. Urai, Miles J. Wells, Steven J. West, Matthew R. Whiteway, Olivier Winter and Ilana B. Witten
Additional contact information
Dora Angelaki: New York University
Brandon Benson: Stanford University
Julius Benson: New York University
Daniel Birman: University of Washington
Niccolò Bonacchi: ISPA–Instituto Universitario
Kcénia Bougrova: Champalimaud Foundation
Sebastian A. Bruijns: University of Tübingen
Matteo Carandini: University College London
Joana A. Catarino: Champalimaud Foundation
Gaelle A. Chapuis: University of Geneva
Anne K. Churchland: University of California Los Angeles
Yang Dan: University of California Berkeley
Felicia Davatolhagh: University of California Los Angeles
Peter Dayan: University of Tübingen
Eric EJ DeWitt: Champalimaud Foundation
Tatiana A. Engel: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Michele Fabbri: Champalimaud Foundation
Mayo Faulkner: University College London
Ila Rani Fiete: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Charles Findling: University of Geneva
Laura Freitas-Silva: Champalimaud Foundation
Berk Gerçek: University of Geneva
Kenneth D. Harris: University College London
Michael Häusser: University College London
Sonja B. Hofer: University College London
Fei Hu: University of California Berkeley
Félix Hubert: University of Geneva
Julia M. Huntenburg: University of Tübingen
Anup Khanal: University of California Los Angeles
Christopher S. Krasniak: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Christopher Langdon: Princeton University
Christopher Langfield: Columbia University
Petrina Y. P. Lau: University College London
Zachary F. Mainen: Champalimaud Foundation
Guido T. Meijer: Champalimaud Foundation
Nathaniel J. Miska: University College London
Thomas D. Mrsic-Flogel: University College London
Jean-Paul Noel: New York University
Kai Nylund: University of Washington
Alejandro Pan-Vazquez: Princeton University
Liam Paninski: Columbia University
Alexandre Pouget: University of Geneva
Cyrille Rossant: University College London
Noam Roth: University of Washington
Rylan Schaeffer: Stanford University
Michael Schartner: Champalimaud Foundation
Yanliang Shi: Princeton University
Karolina Z. Socha: University College London
Nicholas A. Steinmetz: University of Washington
Karel Svoboda: Allen Institute for Neural Dynamics
Anne E. Urai: Leiden University
Miles J. Wells: University College London
Steven J. West: University College London
Matthew R. Whiteway: Columbia University
Olivier Winter: Champalimaud Foundation
Ilana B. Witten: Princeton University

Nature, 2025, vol. 645, issue 8079, 177-191

Abstract: Abstract A key challenge in neuroscience is understanding how neurons in hundreds of interconnected brain regions integrate sensory inputs with previous expectations to initiate movements and make decisions1. It is difficult to meet this challenge if different laboratories apply different analyses to different recordings in different regions during different behaviours. Here we report a comprehensive set of recordings from 621,733 neurons recorded with 699 Neuropixels probes across 139 mice in 12 laboratories. The data were obtained from mice performing a decision-making task with sensory, motor and cognitive components. The probes covered 279 brain areas in the left forebrain and midbrain and the right hindbrain and cerebellum. We provide an initial appraisal of this brain-wide map and assess how neural activity encodes key task variables. Representations of visual stimuli transiently appeared in classical visual areas after stimulus onset and then spread to ramp-like activity in a collection of midbrain and hindbrain regions that also encoded choices. Neural responses correlated with impending motor action almost everywhere in the brain. Responses to reward delivery and consumption were also widespread. This publicly available dataset represents a resource for understanding how computations distributed across and within brain areas drive behaviour.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-09235-0

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