BMI Seminar // Lorenzo Fontolan: Timing your next move: a distributed cortico-striatal integrator for flexible behavior

Functions like movement preparation and short-term memory are thought to rely on distributed neural computations across brain regions, yet it remains unclear how neural circuits coordinate activity across different timescales to generate them. Using simultaneous neural recordings from frontal cortex and striatum in rodents performing self-timed actions, we examined how population dynamics evolve during the preparation and initiation of movement. These data revealed ramping activity spanning seconds, distributed across cortico-striatal loops. I will present how data-driven models of cortico-striatal dynamics point to distinct computational functions of the frontal cortex and striatum in regulating the timing of actions. Dynamical systems modeling, informed by neural recordings, shows that ramping activity in the cortico-basal ganglia loop reflects an integration process, with the striatum regulating cortical dynamics over time. Our results suggest that computational models constrained by data can reveal the principles underlying network dynamics.”