Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38862024›Full record

ArticleNature2024

A virtual rodent predicts the structure of neural activity across behaviours.

Diego Aldarondo, Josh Merel, Jesse D Marshall, Leonard Hasenclever, Ugne Klibaite, Amanda Gellis, Yuval Tassa, Greg Wayne, Matthew Botvinick, Bence P Ölveczky

Erratum issuedAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Nature, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 31 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
31citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

31 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Whole-body 3D kinematics of freely behavingbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026
    Article
  2. Article
  3. Review
  4. Primate neuroethology: a new synthesis.Trends in cognitive sciences · 2026
    Review
  5. The digital sphinx: Can a worm brain control a fly body?bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026
    Article
  6. Article
  7. Understanding the Brain as a Mentalizing Machine with a Symbol Grounding Function.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2026
    Review
  8. Article
  9. InputDSA : Demixing then comparing recurrent and externally driven dynamics.... International Conference on Learning Representations · 2026
    Article
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Article
  13. Cortex-Wide Substrates for Body Schema and Action Awareness.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025
    Article
  14. Article
  15. Foot placement control underlies stable locomotion across species.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025
    Article
  16. Article
  17. Theoretical neuroscience has room to grow.Nature reviews. Neuroscience · 2025
    Article
  18. Article
  19. Article
  20. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

10 authors.

Diego AldarondoDepartment of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA. diegoaldarondo@gmail.com.ORCID 0000-0001-8558-7557
Josh MerelDeepMind, Google, London, UK.
Jesse D MarshallDepartment of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.ORCID 0000-0003-4810-6712
Leonard HasencleverDeepMind, Google, London, UK.
Ugne KlibaiteDepartment of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Amanda GellisDepartment of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Yuval TassaDeepMind, Google, London, UK.ORCID 0000-0002-1197-288X
Greg WayneDeepMind, Google, London, UK.
Matthew BotvinickDeepMind, Google, London, UK.ORCID 0000-0001-7758-6896
Bence P ÖlveczkyDepartment of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA. olveczky@fas.harvard.edu.ORCID 0000-0003-2499-2705

Funding

Neural Circuits Underlying the Acquisition and Control of Motor SkillsR01NS099323 · NINDS · HARVARD UNIVERSITY · PI Bence P Olveczky · 2016 to 2026
$3.9M
A system for long-term high-resolution 3D tracking of movement kinematics in freely behaving animalsR01GM136972 · NIGMS · HARVARD UNIVERSITY · PI OLVECZKY, BENCE P · 2021 to 2024
$1.9M
The Virtual Rodent: A Platform to Study the Artificial and Biological Control of Natural BehaviorF99NS125834 · NINDS · HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL · PI ALDARONDO, DIEGO ETIONY · 2022 to 2023
$65k
NIGMS NIH HHS R01 GM136972NINDS NIH HHS F99 NS125834NINDS NIH HHS R01 NS099323
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Animals have exquisite control of their bodies, allowing them to perform a diverse range of behaviours. How such control is implemented by the brain, however, remains unclear. Advancing our understanding requires models that can relate principles of control to the structure of neural activity in behaving animals. Here, to facilitate this, we built a 'virtual rodent', in which an artificial neural network actuates a biomechanically realistic model of the rat

Indexed as

Behavior, AnimalModels, NeurologicalNeural Networks, ComputerVirtual RealityAnimalsDeep LearningFemaleMotor CortexMovementRatsRats, Long-EvansSensorimotor Cortex

Identifiers

PMID38862024
PMCPMC12080270

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.