Encoding and control of orientation to airflow by a set of Drosophila fan-shaped body neurons

The insect central complex (CX) is thought to underlie goal-oriented navigation but its functional organization is not fully understood. We recorded from genetically-identified CX cell types in Drosophila and presented directional visual, olfactory, and airflow cues known to elicit orienting behavior. We found that a group of neurons targeting the ventral fan-shaped body (ventral P-FNs) are robustly tuned for airflow direction. Ventral P-FNs did not generate a ‘map’ of airflow direction. Instead, cells in each hemisphere were tuned to 45° ipsilateral, forming a pair of orthogonal bases. Imaging experiments suggest that ventral P-FNs inherit their airflow tuning from neurons that provide input from the lateral accessory lobe (LAL) to the noduli (NO). Silencing ventral P-FNs prevented flies from selecting appropriate corrective turns following changes in airflow direction. Our results identify a group of CX neurons that robustly encode airflow direction and are required for proper orientation to this stimulus.

Lateralized role of prefrontal cortex in guiding orienting behavior

Orienting movements are essential to sensory-guided reward-seeking behaviors. Prefrontal cortex (PFC) is believed to exert top-down control over a range of goal-directed behaviors and is hypothesized to bias sensory-guided movements. However, the nature of PFC involvement in controlling sensory-guided orienting behaviors has remained largely unknown. Here, we trained rats on a delayed two-alternative forced-choice task requiring them to hold an orienting decision in working memory before execution is cued. Medial PFC (mPFC) Inactivation using either Muscimol or optogenetics impaired choice behavior. However, optogenetic impairment depended on the specific trial epoch during which inactivation took place. In particular, we found a lateralized role for mPFC during the presentation of instruction cues but this role became bilateral when inactivation occurred later in the delay period. Electrophysiological recording of multiple single-unit activity further provided evidence that this lateralized selectivity is cell-type specific. Our results suggest a previously unknown role of mPFC in mediating sensory-guided representation of orienting behavior and a potentially distinct cell-type specific role in shaping such representation across time.

FUNCTIONS OF VERBAL COMPONENT IN MULTIMODAL FICTIONAL PROSE TEXT OF JONATHAN SAFRAN FOER’S NOVEL «EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE»

Language and text are inseparable concepts, as language is a device that encodes text. The language function depends not only on the transmission of information and reference to an independent reality, but also on the individual orientation in his own cognitive sphere, that is, language began to be seen more as a system of orienting behavior, where connotation plays a crucial role. As literature develops at the same time as society does, so that determined the relevance of our study, after all, the verbal component in a multimodal fictional prose text remains insufficiently studied and researched. Multimodality gains from a close study of the potential of the narrative as an influential mode of discourse that crosses cultures and media. The perceived monomodality of existing narrative theory, and specifically the dominance of verbal resources, is challenged profoundly by multimodality’s persistent investigation of the multiple semiotic tracks at work in storytelling. The main aim of this work is to study the functions of the verbal component of a multimodal fictional prose text. Achieving the outlined aim involves solving the following tasks: to interpret a multimodal fictional prose text; to analyze the functions of the verbal component of a multimodal fictional prose text. Solving these tasks requires a contextual analysis of multimodal fictional prose text and definition of the functions of its components. In this article we explain the role of the verbal component in the multimodal fictional prose text of Jonathan Safran Foer’s novel Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Verbal component can vary, as both the text and the iconic component can have a semantic meaning. We considered all of its functions: informative, communicative, emotional, aesthetic, attractive, deictic. All the functions of the verbal component play essential role in the multimodal fictional prose text because they are in close interaction between themselves and the text. Aim and tasks defined a complex methodology for analyzing the actual material.

Topographic functional interactions between caudate and cortex are organized by network and degrade with age

The striatum is postulated to play a role in gating cortical processing during goal-oriented behavior. However, the underlying circuit structure for striatal gating remains unclear. Deviating from previous approaches which typically treat the striatum as a homogenous structure or small compartments, we took a functional connectivity approach that utilizes the entire anatomical space of the caudate nucleus and examined its functional relationship with the cortex and how that relationship changes with age. We defined the topography of the caudate functional connectivity with the rest of the brain using three publicly available resting-state fMRI data samples. There were several key findings. First, our results revealed two stable gradients of connectivity patterns across the caudate: medial-lateral (M-L) and anterior-posterior (A-P) axes, which supports findings in previous anatomical studies of non-human primates that there is more than one organizational principle. Second, the differential connectivity patterns along the caudate’s M-L gradient were not limited to single structures but rather organized with respect to large-scale neural networks; in particular, networks associated with internal orienting behavior are closely linked to the medial extent of the caudate whereas networks associated with external orienting behavior are closely linked to the lateral extent of the caudate. Third, we found a decrease in the integrity of M-L organization with healthy aging which was associated with age-related changes in behavioral measures of flexible control. In sum, the caudate shows a topographic organization with respect to large-scale networks in the human brain and changes this organization seem to have implications for age-related decline in flexible control of behavior.