Cortex-dependent corrections as the tongue reaches for and misses targets.

Precise tongue control is necessary for drinking, eating and vocalizing1-3. However, because tongue movements are fast and difficult to resolve, neural control of lingual kinematics remains poorly understood. Here we combine kilohertz-frame-rate imaging and a deep-learning-based neural network to resolve 3D tongue kinematics in mice drinking from a water spout. Successful licks required corrective submovements that-similar to online corrections during primate reaches4-11-occurred after the tongue missed unseen, distant or displaced targets. Photoinhibition of anterolateral motor cortex impaired corrections, which resulted in hypometric licks that missed the spout. Neural activity in anterolateral motor cortex reflected upcoming, ongoing and past corrective submovements, as well as errors in predicted spout contact. Although less than a tenth of a second in duration, a single mouse lick exhibits the hallmarks of online motor control associated with a primate reach, including cortex-dependent corrections after misses.

Intense threat switches dorsal raphe serotonin neurons to a paradoxical operational mode.

Survival depends on the selection of behaviors adaptive for the current environment. For example, a mouse should run from a rapidly looming hawk but should freeze if the hawk is coasting across the sky. Although serotonin has been implicated in adaptive behavior, environmental regulation of its functional role remains poorly understood. In mice, we found that stimulation of dorsal raphe serotonin neurons suppressed movement in low- and moderate-threat environments but induced escape behavior in high-threat environments, and that movement-related dorsal raphe serotonin neural dynamics inverted in high-threat environments. Stimulation of dorsal raphe Î³-aminobutyric acid (GABA) neurons promoted movement in negative but not positive environments, and movement-related GABA neural dynamics inverted between positive and negative environments. Thus, dorsal raphe circuits switch between distinct operational modes to promote environment-specific adaptive behaviors.