{
  "abstract": "Efficient navigation requires prioritizing information from behaviorally relevant locations. In rats, such selective sampling may arise from theta-paced sweeps in grid and place cell populations, which scan nearby space in a left-right alternating pattern coordinated by parasubicular direction signals. This alternation promotes uniform spatial coverage during exploration, but whether sweeps can be flexibly tuned to moment-to-moment demands remains unknown. Using large-scale Neuropixels recordings in freely behaving rats, we show that sweeps and direction signals are rapidly and dynamically modulated: They track moving targets during pursuit, precede orienting responses during immobility, and reverse during backward locomotion-all without prior spatial learning of goal locations. Comparable modulation occurs during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. Together, these findings identify sweeps as a flexible, attention-like mechanism for selectively sampling allocentric cognitive maps.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience and Centre for Algorithms in the Cortex, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway"
  ],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 5,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Abraham Z. Vollan",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-3376-6689"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Michael F. Schellenberger",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-3809-0630"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Richard J. Gardner",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-3242-8840"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "May‐Britt Moser",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-7884-3049"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Edvard Ingjald Moser",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-0226-5566"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/b5jzywwr30dyr.bib",
  "cited_by": 11,
  "doi": "10.1126/science.aef4184",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "b5jzywwr30dyr",
  "issns": [
    "0036-8075",
    "0193-4511",
    "1095-9203"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aef4184",
  "language": "en",
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "journal",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "openalex",
      "2805|Memory and Neural Mechanisms"
    ]
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  "openalex": "W7196935706",
  "pdf_url": null,
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": "42561067",
  "published": "2026-08-06",
  "publisher": "American Association for the Advancement of Science",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/b5jzywwr30dyr.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-05T13:21:01Z",
      "native_id": "W7196935706",
      "source": "openalex",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aef4184"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "openalex:2805|Memory and Neural Mechanisms",
      "subfield": "neuroscience"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Adaptive modulation of theta sweeps in the brain’s navigation circuit",
  "title_text": "Adaptive modulation of theta sweeps in the brain’s navigation circuit",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-09T13:21:12Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/b5jzywwr30dyr",
  "venue": "Science",
  "versions": []
}