Reading the Minds of Monkeys Doing the Obstacle-Avoidance Task (VIDEO)
Caption
The difference between the cognitive styles of two monkeys is clearly visible in the neural population vectors for hand movement direction. The instant the target (green) appears, monkey H plans to move directly to it (his direction decoding vector lengthens in the direction of the target). When the obstacle then appears, the vector shrinks and rotates to a direction that will allow him to avoid the obstacle and then lengthens again. In contrast, monkey G doesn’t react to the appearance of the target. Knowing that his path to the target may be blocked by the obstacle he waits until the task has been fully specified before planning his move.
Credit
Moran/Pearce
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