Spontaneous brain-wide rotational dynamics constrain cue-evoked behavior
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Sihan Chen, Yunlong Xu, Doruk Efe Gökmen, Michel Fruchart, Brent Doiron, Vincenzo Vitelli · arXiv: 2610.25061v1 · Summary page
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The brain's ongoing rhythm helps set the response
A cue does not arrive in a brain that is waiting motionless. A new preprint introduces Rotational Component Analysis, a method designed to detect rotational patterns in neural activity, including patterns too low in variance to stand out in more conventional analyses. The researchers applied it across recordings from monkeys, mice and humans, spanning electrical activity, calcium imaging, fMRI and MEG. In mice, the phase of a spontaneous rotational pattern when a randomly timed cue arrived predicted whether the animal subsequently pulled a lever.
A recurrent neural network and a minimal model offered an explanation for how ongoing rotation could constrain responses and learning. The analysis also identified patterns separating preparation from task activity, including during a non-motor human task. A measure of rotational irreversibility distinguished early psychosis where principal component analysis showed no group difference. These results suggest a useful way to describe how an internal brain state shapes incoming information, but prediction and modelling do not establish that the measured rotation itself causes an animal's choice.
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