Neural signatures of natural behaviour in socializing macaques.

Our understanding of the neurobiology of primate behaviour largely derives from artificial tasks in highly controlled laboratory settings, overlooking most natural behaviours that primate brains evolved to produce. How primates navigate the multidimensional social relationships that structure daily life and shape survival and reproductive success remains largely unclear at the single-neuron level. Here we combine ethological analysis, computer vision and wireless recording technologies to identify neural signatures of natural behaviour in unrestrained, socially interacting pairs of rhesus macaques.

Neural cognitive signals during spontaneous movements in the macaque.

The single-neuron basis of cognitive processing in primates has mostly been studied in laboratory settings where movements are severely restricted. It is unclear, therefore, how natural movements might affect neural signatures of cognition in the brain. Moreover, studies in mice indicate that body movements, when measured, account for most of the neural dynamics in the cortex.