Human intracranial recordings reveal neural representations of pursuit and avoidance states in a naturalistic paradigm

Poster Session E - Monday, March 9, 2026, 2:30 – 4:30 pm PDT, Fairview/Kitsilano Ballrooms

Blair Vail¹ (vail0048@umn.edu), Seth König¹, Seng Bum Michael Yoo², Benjamin Hayden³, Alexander Herman¹, David Darrow¹; ¹University of Minnesota, ²Sungkyunkwan University, ³Baylor College of Medicine

Reward pursuit and threat avoidance are fundamental components of behavior, but they have not yet been studied in humans using invasive recording and naturalistic paradigms. We defined pursuit and avoidance as behavioral states and identified their neural correlates using human intracranial electrophysiology from three reward- and threat-related regions: amygdala, anterior cingulate (ACC), and orbitofrontal cortex (OFC). We recorded local field potentials from neurosurgical patients while they pursued “prey” and avoided “predators” in a video-game-like task. We defined pursuit (PRS) epochs based on player trajectories closer to the player-to-prey angle than the predator-to-player angle, with avoidance (AVD) epochs closer to the latter. Hilbert analytic amplitude (HAA) was extracted from gamma (30-150 Hz), beta (13-29 Hz), and theta/alpha (4-12.5 Hz) bands, then aligned to PRS/AVD onset. Each timepoint from -500ms to +500ms was analyzed via linear mixed effects model with permutation testing, yielding time windows with significantly different band power between PRS and AVD. ACC and amygdala displayed transient gamma peaks during and preceding AVD (relative to PRS). Gamma power in amygdala also decreased/rebounded within 50ms of AVD onset. OFC gamma and beta were consistently higher throughout the transition to AVD, briefly dropping at onset. Beta power in OFC and amygdala decreased simultaneously at 300-400ms in AVD, with theta/alpha in all three regions decreasing after 250ms. These differences, aligned to behavior rather than external cues, point to distinct neural states underlying naturalistic pursuit/avoidance in humans. Shared time courses between ACC, amygdala and OFC further suggest network collaboration in orchestrating these essential behaviors.

Topic Area: EXECUTIVE PROCESSES: Monitoring & inhibitory control