Asymmetric prefrontal representations for leader–follower dynamics

TL;DR - A Nature study finds that cooperating mice spontaneously adopt leader and follower roles, with the medial prefrontal cortex representing these dynamics. The findings link prefrontal activity to social roles and partner-relative value during cooperation.

• Cooperative behavior produced distinct leader–follower roles without explicit assignment.
• The medial prefrontal cortex encoded changes in these social roles.
• Neural representations included an egocentric social value map based on the partner’s position.
• The results offer a neural framework for understanding coordinated social behavior.