# CRCNS: Emergence of coordinated multi-region brain activity supporting behavior

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO · 2024 · $112,245

## Abstract

Changes in interactions between neurons enable diverse computations and flexible behaviors. Such 
changes can occur very rapidly by rerouting information flow through existing connections, or more slowly 
by updating connections. The proposed project will study how local and brain-wide dynamics arise during 
learning of goal-directed behaviors. Experiments will use novel ‘all-optical’ experimental techniques to 
causally map network interactions at cellular resolution in combination with data-constrained computational 
models, to follow the learning process in the living brain with unprecedented detail. The investigation will 
focus on learning mechanisms in several novel memory-guided behavioral tasks, that either do not require 
learning, or specifically tailored for studying learning within and over days. This will fundamentally advance 
the understanding of how different learning mechanisms shape brain-dynamics and behavior. 
Aim 1: Mapping changes in causal interactions (effective connectivity) between neurons in local cortical 
circuits. Modeling and experiments will allow disentangling contributions of synaptic plasticity and gating to 
changes in network interactions and representations during learning. 
Aim 2: Investigating unique properties of cortex-wide neural activity. Preliminary work, based on cellular-resolution mesoscopic imaging of ~1,000,000 neurons, led to the discovery that spatial and temporal scales 
of brain-wide dynamics follow a power-law. Intriguingly, the most dominant modes of activity are global and 
fast, differently from any existing network model. The proposed work will uncover biological mechanisms 
supporting the emergence of these newly discovered cortical states during learning. 
Aim 3: Investigating functional implications of learned neural network dynamics studied in Aims 1 and 2. To 
test the hypothesis that such dynamics enable animals to perform flexible memory-guided behaviors, work 
will focus on modeling the effect of targeted optogenetic perturbations of neural activity on different spatial 
scales on network dynamics and behavior. 
Overall, the proposed collaborative study will leverage the PIs complementary expertise, to deepen the 
understanding of mechanisms and function of neural dynamics on different spatial scales. The 
experimental and theoretical methods developed as part of this proposal will provide insight for brain-wide 
control of memory-guided behavior, and will serve as a road-map for future studies of other behaviors 
controlled by distributed brain networks.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10917412
- **Project number:** 5R01NS135853-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO
- **Principal Investigator:** Johnatan Aljadeff
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $112,245
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-09-01 → 2027-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10917412

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10917412, CRCNS: Emergence of coordinated multi-region brain activity supporting behavior (5R01NS135853-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10917412. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*