Fatal, Y. | Search bioRxiv

bioRxiv2026

Claustral Input Consolidates Anterior Cingulate Cortical States for Selective Behavior

Efficient behavior depends on consolidating selective strategies that prioritize informative cues and suppress irrelevant signals. Previous studies have implicated the claustrum in coordinating cortical activity and large-scale brain states across behavioral contexts, yet its precise contribution to online behavioral control versus the consolidation of frontal control strategies remains unresolved. Here we combined large-scale Neuropixels recordings with targeted optogenetic perturbation of claustral neurons projecting to the anterior cingulate cortex in behaving mice. During adaptation to altered task context and constraints, frontal cortical activity reorganized into a coordinated control regime characterized by sharpened encoding of task-relevant cues, suppression of non-instructive signals, structured low-frequency dynamics, and rapid transitions between population-level neural states. Temporally misaligned claustral signaling disrupted this reorganization, selectively impairing the consolidation of efficient, cue-selective strategies across sessions without affecting trial-by-trial task execution. These findings identify a role for the claustrum in shaping frontal dynamics that consolidate adaptive control strategies.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2026

Context-dependent reorganization of behavioral strategy during transfer from home-cage to head-fixed performance

Complex behavioral tasks increasingly rely on autonomous training paradigms that enable high-throughput learning in naturalistic settings. Such approaches offer a scalable route for preparing animals for subsequent head-fixed recordings required for high-resolution neural measurements. However, how animals adapt their behavioral strategies across these distinct contexts remains poorly understood. Here, we examine how mice trained autonomously in a group-housed home-cage system reorganize their behavior when transitioned to a head-fixed version of the same delayed-response task. Although overall success rates were comparable across contexts, mice exhibited a striking shift in behavioral policy. Freely behaving home-cage performance was characterized by high engagement and premature responses, whereas head-fixed performance showed a progressive emergence of selective, cue-intensity-dependent responding accompanied by increased omission errors. This selective strategy was strongly associated with improved performance and sustained engagement under head-fixed conditions, reflecting a trade-off between sensitivity to low-intensity cues and suppression of premature actions. Importantly, selectivity did not arise immediately upon head fixation but developed gradually with experience across sessions, indicating learned adaptation rather than a spontaneous response to restraint. Our findings demonstrate that behavioral policy is not solely determined by task rules or sensory demands, but is strongly shaped by task architecture, temporal constraints, and opportunity cost. These results highlight the need to account for context-dependent strategy shifts when interpreting neural activity following transfer from autonomous training to controlled recording environments, and establish a framework for studying adaptive behavior across experimental contexts.

animal behavior and cognition↗