Efficient cortical coding of 3D posture in freely behaving rats

Abstract

Posture in the brain Our understanding of the neural basis of motor control originates in studies of eye, hand, and arm movements in primates. Mimica et al. investigated neuronal representations of body postures in the posterior parietal and frontal motor cortices with three-dimensional tracking of freely moving rodents (see the Perspective by Chen). Both brain regions represented posture rather than movements and self-motion. Decoding the activity of neurons in the two regions accurately predicted an animal's posture. Science , this issue p. 584 ; see also p. 520