Internal state dynamics shape brainwide activity and foraging behaviour

The brain has persistent internal states that can modulate every aspect of an animal’s mental experience1–4. In complex tasks such as foraging, the internal state is dynamic5–8. Caenorhabditis elegans alternate between local search and global dispersal5. Rodents and primates exhibit trade-offs between exploitation and exploration6,7. However, fundamental questions remain about how persistent states are maintained in the brain, which upstream …