Central pattern generators articles from across Nature Portfolio

Breathing is controlled automatically but is also conditionally integrated with behavior and emotion in awake animals. Here, authors identify brainstem neurons that are important for controlling awake-state-dependent breathing patterns in mice.

Where and how the command signal for initiation of locomotion is integrated in the spinal cord has remained unresolved. Here, the authors uncover the functional chain of this signal from the brainstem locomotor command areas to neurons in the spinal cord.

A study presents ensemble recordings of neurons in the lumbar spinal cord indicating that activity in spinal cord circuits for movement follows low-dimensional rotational dynamics, and proposes a theory of neural generation of movements.

Costa et al. use single-neuron resolution voltage imaging to identify two low-dimensional motor modules in the neuronal population underlying Aplysia feeding. Their findings point to a temporal shift in module recruitment as the primary signature of operant learning.