@elduvelle Behavior is inherently equifinal. Many neurophysiological processes can lead to the same behavior.

The physical path of #VTE (pause and orient back and forth) is *correlated* with but not identical to the neurophysiological process of #VTE (vicariously trying out options; planning; deliberation).

Other pause and reorient behaviors include trying to see better cues [visual discrimination] (Bett et al 2012: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnbeh.2012.00070/full) and identifying new events/positions to put onto the map (Monaco et al 2014: https://www.nature.com/articles/nn.3687). The Monaco et al head-scanning includes a lot of rearing events.

Interestingly, the pause-and-reorient behaviors (PARs) in this paper (George et al 2023: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0166432823001286) include rearing, which deliberative VTE doesn't seem to.

Nevertheless, a fascinating contribution to the literature. I'm particularly intrigued by the evidence that these behaviors predict future performance.

#RatBehavior #decisionmaking #neuroscience