The Neural Basis of Predictive Pursuit

Abstract

It remains unclear how and to what extent non-human animals make demanding on-the-fly predictions during pursuit. We studied this problem in a novel laboratory pursuit task that incentivizes prediction of future prey positions. We trained three macaques to perform joystick-controlled pursuit of prey that followed intelligent escape algorithms. Subjects reliably aimed towards the prey’s likely future positions, indicating that they generate internal predictions and use those predictions to guide behavior. We then developed a generative model that explains real-time pursuit trajectories and showed that our subjects use prey position, velocity, and acceleration to make predictions. We identified neurons in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) whose responses track these three variables. These neurons multiplexed prediction-related variables with a distinct and explicit representation of the prey’s future position. Our results provide a clear demonstration that the brain can explicitly represent future predictions and highlight the critical role of anterior cingulate cortex for future-oriented cognition.One-sentence summaryIn a dynamic pursuit environment, monkeys actively predict future prey positions and dACC neurons encode these future positions.

Spatial planning with long visual range benefits escape from visual predators in complex naturalistic environments

“…8). These resulting predator success paths resemble trajectories taken by primates in pursuit tasks 31 and seem to arise as a result of easy access to predicted prey locations.…”

Sex differences in visuomotor tracking

“…Mapping complex target trajectories with an optimal motor responses implies a series decision-making processes in order to dynamically adapt motor outputs by determining which movement or sub-movement to make and when to make them 34 , 35 . We reasoned that males advantages in manual tracking that were previously reported 16 – 19 could be associated with faster decisional processes dynamically linking visual information of the target with forthcoming hand actions.…”

Elements of a stochastic 3D prediction engine in larval zebrafish prey capture

“…Foremost, we hypothesized that the pursuit of fast-moving prey should be benefitted by internal models; the ability to extrapolate prey trajectories forward in time and the prediction of how each pursuit movement impacts prey position would both, a priori, appear to be helpful in capturing fast-moving objects (e.g. Yoo et al, 2019; Borghuis and Leonardo, 2015). Furthermore, there is precedent for the zebrafish constructing relatively complex behaviors from simple rules.…”