New information triggers prospective codes to adapt for flexible navigation

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Cognitive Science
• Behavioral Science

Background:

• The brain must integrate new information with past experiences to update future plans dynamically.
• Neural activity in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex (PFC) is thought to support future planning, but how new information impacts these representations is unclear.

Approach:

• A novel virtual reality task was developed to introduce new information to mice during navigation.
• Neural activity was recorded as mice adapted their planned destinations based on this new information.

Key Points:

• New information increased hippocampal prospective goal representations for all potential goals.
• In the PFC, new information rapidly shifted prospective choice representations toward the updated choice.
• Failure to flexibly adapt was associated with a lack of PFC choice code switching, despite intact hippocampal goal representations.

Conclusions:

• Prospective code updating in the PFC is crucial for flexible adaptation of navigational plans.
• The degree of adaptation needed and commitment to an initial choice influence prospective code updating.
• This study reveals the neural mechanisms by which prospective codes are updated to enable flexible planning in response to new information.