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Poster E in Poster Session E: Thursday, August 6, 10:30 am – 12:15 pm, Kimmel Center, Shorin & Rosenthal Rooms

Neural coding of complex behavior in humans: from widespread engagement to microtask tuning

Yingxi Jin¹, Xing Hao Li¹, Jeffrey Chung¹, Chrystal Reed¹, David Bonda¹, Adam Mamelak¹, Ueli Rutishauser², Markus Meister¹; ¹California Institute of Technology, ²Cedars-Sinai Medical Center

Presenter: Yingxi Jin

Complex human behavior, such as driving a car, involves flexible sequencing of many brief tasks in order to achieve a goal. Much previous research has studied isolated tasks; however, how the brain combines these "microtasks", controls their sequence, and integrates them into longer goal-directed behaviors remains unknown. Here, we report single-neuron recordings from human subjects engaged in a naturalistic, goal-directed behavior: driving a simulated car. We found that across 7 brain areas, 71% of neurons are modulated by this activity, with distinct subsets tuned to specific behavioral events and track locations. Neural dynamics span from sub-second bursts to minute-long ramps. Clustering of neuronal tuning profiles revealed consistent neural response patterns across subjects and brain regions. In conclusion, a complex behavior like driving engages widely distributed neural populations with interpretable, structured activity across multiple timescales. These observations pave the way for human single-neuron recording to test specific circuit models for how the brain controls goal-directed behaviors.

Topic Area: Methods, Tools, Theory & Neural Coding