Neural correlates of innate preference for upward motion.

Overview

1. Centre for Mind/Brain Science, CIMeC, University of Trento, Rovereto, Italy

Abstract

The ability to detect animate objects is a fundamental property of the animal visual system. Among the cues used to infer animacy, motion against gravity is particularly salient, as upward movement signals self-propelled, living objects. While humans and newly hatched domestic chicks show spontaneous attention to upward-moving stimuli, the neural mechanisms underlying this innate preference remain unknown. Here, we show that neurons in the nidopallium of 1-week-old domestic chicks encode upward, animacy-suggestive motion. Using extracellular recordings alongside video- and accelerometer-based behavioral tracking, we found a robust orienting response toward upward-moving stimuli. Most direction-sensitive neurons in the nidopallium responded preferentially to upward motion, and the population activity of these neurons accurately predicted the chicks’ spontaneous behavioral responses. These findings reveal a direct link between sensory encoding and innate behavioral preference, providing insight into the neural basis of sensitivity to upward, animacy-related motion cues.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Code

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The paper's code and data availability statement is in the Data section.

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Data

Datasets cited

• zenodo:20381425, at Zenodo; found in “Data and code availability”

Data and code availability

Neural activity and behavioral tracking data have been deposited at Zenodo and are publicly available as of the date of publication (DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20381425).

All original codes for stimulus presentation and data analyses have been deposited at Zenodo at (DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20381425) and is publicly available as of the date of publication.

Any additional information required to reanalyze the data reported in this paper is available from the lead contact upon request.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Versions

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Version 2, 28 September 2026

• Authors: added Dmitry Kobylkov (0000-0003-0380-5907); removed Dmitry Kobylkov

Version 1, 27 September 2026: the first record

Recorded: type, language, journal, volume, issue, pages, dates, 2 authors, 3 keywords, 2 funders, 31 references.

Cite

This paper

Kobylkov, D., & Vallortigara, G. (2026). Neural correlates of innate preference for upward motion. iScience, 29(7), 116352. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2026.116352

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