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Spatial reasoning via recurrent neural dynamics in mouse retrosplenial cortex.

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Bibliographic Details
Title:	Spatial reasoning via recurrent neural dynamics in mouse retrosplenial cortex.
Authors:	Voigts, Jakob (AUTHOR), Kanitscheider, Ingmar (AUTHOR), Miller, Nicholas J. (AUTHOR), Toloza, Enrique H. S. (AUTHOR), Newman, Jonathan P. (AUTHOR), Fiete, Ila R. (AUTHOR), Harnett, Mark T. (AUTHOR)
Source:	Nature Neuroscience. Jun2025, Vol. 28 Issue 6, p1293-1299. 7p.
Abstract:	From visual perception to language, sensory stimuli change their meaning depending on previous experience. Recurrent neural dynamics can interpret stimuli based on externally cued context, but it is unknown whether they can compute and employ internal hypotheses to resolve ambiguities. Here we show that mouse retrosplenial cortex (RSC) can form several hypotheses over time and perform spatial reasoning through recurrent dynamics. In our task, mice navigated using ambiguous landmarks that are identified through their mutual spatial relationship, requiring sequential refinement of hypotheses. Neurons in RSC and in artificial neural networks encoded mixtures of hypotheses, location and sensory information, and were constrained by robust low-dimensional dynamics. RSC encoded hypotheses as locations in activity space with divergent trajectories for identical sensory inputs, enabling their correct interpretation. Our results indicate that interactions between internal hypotheses and external sensory data in recurrent circuits can provide a substrate for complex sequential cognitive reasoning. Using a spatial reasoning task in mice, the authors show that retrosplenial cortex encodes spatial hypotheses with well-behaved recurrent dynamics, which can combine these hypotheses with incoming information to resolve ambiguities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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Database:	Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection

Description
Abstract:	From visual perception to language, sensory stimuli change their meaning depending on previous experience. Recurrent neural dynamics can interpret stimuli based on externally cued context, but it is unknown whether they can compute and employ internal hypotheses to resolve ambiguities. Here we show that mouse retrosplenial cortex (RSC) can form several hypotheses over time and perform spatial reasoning through recurrent dynamics. In our task, mice navigated using ambiguous landmarks that are identified through their mutual spatial relationship, requiring sequential refinement of hypotheses. Neurons in RSC and in artificial neural networks encoded mixtures of hypotheses, location and sensory information, and were constrained by robust low-dimensional dynamics. RSC encoded hypotheses as locations in activity space with divergent trajectories for identical sensory inputs, enabling their correct interpretation. Our results indicate that interactions between internal hypotheses and external sensory data in recurrent circuits can provide a substrate for complex sequential cognitive reasoning. Using a spatial reasoning task in mice, the authors show that retrosplenial cortex encodes spatial hypotheses with well-behaved recurrent dynamics, which can combine these hypotheses with incoming information to resolve ambiguities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
ISSN:	10976256
DOI:	10.1038/s41593-025-01944-z