The brain may use continuous attractor dynamics to encode behaviorally relevant variables, but direct evidence of their circuit-level implementation remains lacking. Vinograd, Nair et al. imaged line attractor-like neural dynamics in the hypothalamus of mice that were observing aggressive encounters between other mice. Interestingly, holographic optogenetic activation of attractor-contributing integrator neurons caused on-manifold movement along the line attractor, while activation of orthogonal neurons resulted in transient off-manifold perturbation followed by relaxation into the attractor. Compellingly, single-neuron stimulation uncovered selective functional connectivity between integrator neurons, and the stability of the line attractor (which pertains to individual differences in aggressiveness) was correlated to the degree of functional connectivity within these ensembles. These data suggest that continuous attractor dynamics may causally relate to neural encoding, and ultimately behavior, in mammals.

Original reference: Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07915-x (2024)