Dvorakova, TerezaLobellova, VeronikaManubens Coda, PalomaSánchez Jiménez, AbelVillacorta Atienza, José AntonioStuchlik, AlesLevcik, David2025-04-072025-04-072025-02-25Dvorakova T, Lobellova V, Manubens P, Sanchez-Jimenez A, Villacorta-Atienza JA, Stuchlik A, et al. (2025) Spatial prediction of dynamic interactions in rats. PLoS ONE 20(2): e0319101. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.03191011932-620310.1371/journal.pone.0319101https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/119316This research was supported by the project National Institute for Neurology Research (Programme EXCELES, ID Project No. LX22NPO5107)—Funded by the European Union–Next Generation EU, the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic (MSMT) programme OP VVV project FGÚ MSCA Mobilita IV CZ.02.2.69/0.0/0.0/20_079/0017164, awarded to D.L., and Czech Science Foundation grant GACR 21-16667K, awarded to A.S. The authors from Spain were supported by the Ministry of Science and Innovation (Spain), Grant PID2022-138659NB-I00, awarded to J.A.V-A.Animals and humans receive the most critical information from parts of the environment that are immediately inaccessible and highly dynamic. The brain must effectively process potential interactions between elements in such an environment to make appropriate decisions in critical situations. We trained male Long-Evans rats to discriminate static and dynamic spatial stimuli and to generalize novel dynamic spatial stimuli displayed on an inaccessible computer screen. We provide behavioral evidence indicating that rats encode dynamic visuospatial situations by constructing internal static representations that capture meaningful future interactions between objects. These observations support previous findings in humans that such internal static representations can encapsulate relevant spatiotemporal information of dynamic environments. This mechanism would allow animals and humans to process complex time-changing situations neatly.engAttribution 4.0 Internationalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/journal articlehttps://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0319101https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0319101open access636.09:612.8591.1591.5636.9.02CognitionRatsHippocampusLearningAnimal performanceReaction dynamicsReaction timeVisionZoologíaFisiología animal (Biología)Animales de laboratorioNeurociencias (Biológicas)2401 Biología Animal (Zoología)2401.13 Fisiología Animal2401.02 Comportamiento Animal2408 Etología2490.01 Neurofisiología