Lopez Cervera, Roberto2023-09-192023-09-192023https://hdl.handle.net/11299/257105University of Minnesota Ph.D. dissertation. 2023. Major: Neuroscience. Advisor: Benjamin Hayden. 1 computer file (PDF); vi, 101 pages.The ability to predict the future based on past experience is one of the most important adaptations of our brain. It allows us to process incoming information and use it to generate complex patterns of movement that give us control over our environment. It is therefore not surprising that movements can provide us with insight into internal decision-making processes. For example, there are a growing number of studies describing how associative areas of the brain, such as the prefrontal cortex, process a wide spectrum of environmental variables and information modalities. To add to this literature, we employed a novel open-field paradigm whereby freely-moving rhesus macaques performed a foraging task while we simultaneously performed markerless pose estimation and single-unit recordings from six prefrontal brain regions. First, we found that activity in PMd and OFC prospectively correlated with vigor during patch switching, and activity in PMd and dlPFC retrospectively correlated with vigor. Then, we showed that navigational and task variables are encoded across the prefrontal cortex in a distributed manner, where dorsal areas encoded these variables more strongly than ventral areas. Finally, we reviewed the literature on the systems neuroscience of curiosity and highlighted important remaining questions in the field.enThesis or Dissertation