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Sensorimotor processing refers to a process by which sensory information or input is coupled or integrated to a related motor response in the central nervous system. This process underlies both involuntary or reflexive actions and voluntary acts.
Charlton and Goris developed a new perceptual decision-making task for macaque monkeys and found that prefrontal circuits involved in action selection are also used for the deliberation of abstract propositions divorced from a specific motor plan.
The neural basis of spatial localization is poorly understood. Here the authors showed that when planning a reach towards an object, neural coding in the frontoparietal network dynamically changes between allocentric and egocentric spatial reference frames where the transition is controlled by task demands.
The hippocampus maps space, but its role in encoding investigatory intentions is unclear. Here the authors show that certain CA1 neurons encode both spatial information and animals’ intention to explore, depending on input from lateral entorhinal cortex.
Grid cells develop in rats soon after they leave the nest. Here, Ulsaker-Janke et al. show that preventing exposure to straight boundaries from birth delays, but does not prevent, grid cell maturation in adult rats.