Turning left or right is a core element of animal navigation. Such turns occur in precise coordination with the ongoing stepping rhythm and require internal planning for the animal's future path. The superior colliculus (SC) is a midbrain structure involved in turning. Whether turn-related activity in the SC is coordinated with stepping and internal representations of future paths is unknown. Here, while recording from left- or right-preferring "turn cells" in the motor layers of the SC as mice navigated a Y-maze, we monitored locomotor dynamics and decoded internal representations of future paths from the hippocampus. We discovered that turn cell activity was tightly phase-locked to the stepping rhythm and modulated in coordination with hippocampal representations of future paths. The coordination of turn-related activity in the SC with stepping and internal representations of future paths may allow animals to seamlessly execute turns during locomotion while navigating toward planned destinations.
Wilhite, C., Frank, L. M., Scanziani, M.
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