The head-direction signal is generated by multiple attractor-like networks
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Abstract The generation of the head-direction (HD) signal, a cornerstone of the brain’s navigation system, is classically attributed to the lateral mammillary nucleus (LMN) and associated brainstem structures, where attractor-like dynamics are thought to maintain population coherence. Here, using multi-site recordings and optogenetic perturbations along the mammillary–thalamic–cortical pathway, we demonstrate that HD neurons in the anterodorsal nucleus of the thalamus (ADN) maintain coherent population dynamics even when their LMN inputs become decorrelated during non-REM sleep. These findings reveal that thalamic coherence does not strictly depend on structured input from the LMN; instead, it can emerge from local thalamic processes involving shared inhibition and non-linear responses. Together, our findings reveal a previously unrecognized, state-dependent shift in the circuit organizing the HD signal, establishing the thalamus as an active substrate capable of independently sustaining internal representations across brain states.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".