The study of the cortical control of movement experienced a conceptual shift over recent
decades, as the basic currency of understanding shifted from single-neuron tuning towards …

Significant experimental, computational, and theoretical work has identified rich structure
within the coordinated activity of interconnected neural populations. An emerging challenge …

Animals readily execute learned behaviors in a consistent manner over long periods of time,
and yet no equally stable neural correlate has been demonstrated. How does the cortex …

Highlights•New generations of recording and computing technologies have enabled
neuroscience at the level of the neural population.•Landmark scientific findings suggest the …

Statistical regularities in the environment create prior beliefs that we rely on to optimize our
behavior when sensory information is uncertain. Bayesian theory formalizes how prior …

Rapid execution of motor sequences is believed to depend on fusing movement elements
into cohesive units that are executed holistically. We sought to determine the contribution of …

Neural activity is often described in terms of population-level factors extracted from the
responses of many neurons. Factors provide a lower-dimensional description with the aim of …

The neural mechanisms that generate an extensible library of motor motifs and flexibly string
them into arbitrary sequences are unclear. We developed a model in which inhibitory basal …

Recent work has suggested that the prefrontal cortex (PFC) plays a key role in context-
dependent perceptual decision-making. In this study, we addressed that role using a new …

The supplementary motor area (SMA) is believed to contribute to higher order aspects of
motor control. We considered a key higher order role: tracking progress throughout an …