Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40481228›Full record

ArticleNature neuroscience2025

Spatial reasoning via recurrent neural dynamics in mouse retrosplenial cortex.

Jakob Voigts, Ingmar Kanitscheider, Nicholas J Miller, Enrique H S Toloza, Jonathan P Newman, Ila R Fiete, Mark T Harnett

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Nature neuroscience, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing 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

5 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Predictive pursuit emerges in high-dimensional recurrent neural networks.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026
    Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Jakob VoigtsDepartment of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA. voigtsj@janelia.hhmi.org.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5174-7214
Ingmar KanitscheiderOpenAI, San Francisco, CA, USA.
Nicholas J MillerDepartment of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Enrique H S TolozaDepartment of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Jonathan P NewmanDepartment of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Ila R FieteDepartment of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA. fiete@mit.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4738-2539
Mark T HarnettDepartment of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA. harnett@mit.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5301-1139

Funding

Medical Scientist Training ProgramT32GM007753 · NIGMS · HARVARD UNIVERSITY (MEDICAL SCHOOL) · PI WALENSKY, LOREN DAVID · 1985 to 2021
$50.0M
Medical Scientist Training ProgramT32GM144273 · NIGMS · HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL · PI David Shumway Jones, Jacqueline A. Lees · 2022 to 2026
$14.7M
A dendritic mechanism for cholinergic neuromodulation of cortical functionR01NS106031 · NINDS · MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY · PI HARNETT, MARK THOMAS · 2018 to 2022
$1.7M
Supplement: Robotic Platform for High-Densisty in Vivo Intracellular recordingR21NS103098 · NINDS · UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA · PI HARNETT, MARK THOMAS, KODANDARAMAIAH, SUHASA B · 2017 to 2018
$483k
Network and dendritic mechanisms of context-dependent cortical computationK99NS118112 · NINDS · MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY · PI VOIGTS, JAKOB · 2020 to 2021
$207k
NIGMS NIH HHS T32 GM007753NIGMS NIH HHS T32 GM144273NINDS NIH HHS K99 NS118112NINDS NIH HHS R01 NS106031NINDS NIH HHS R21 NS103098
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

From visual perception to language, sensory stimuli change their meaning depending on previous experience. Recurrent neural dynamics can interpret stimuli based on externally cued context, but it is unknown whether they can compute and employ internal hypotheses to resolve ambiguities. Here we show that mouse retrosplenial cortex (RSC) can form several hypotheses over time and perform spatial reasoning through recurrent dynamics. In our task, mice navigated using ambiguous landmarks that are identified through their mutual spatial relationship, requiring sequential refinement of hypotheses. Neurons in RSC and in artificial neural networks encoded mixtures of hypotheses, location and sensory information, and were constrained by robust low-dimensional dynamics. RSC encoded hypotheses as locations in activity space with divergent trajectories for identical sensory inputs, enabling their correct interpretation. Our results indicate that interactions between internal hypotheses and external sensory data in recurrent circuits can provide a substrate for complex sequential cognitive reasoning.

Indexed as

Cerebral CortexGyrus CinguliNeuronsSpace PerceptionAnimalsMaleMiceMice, Inbred C57BLModels, NeurologicalNeural Networks, ComputerPhotic Stimulation

Identifiers

PMID40481228
PMCPMC12148932

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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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.