Parallel and convergent pathways for multifeature visual processing in larval zebrafish sensorimotor decision-making.

ABSTRACT: Animals continuously extract and evaluate diverse sensory information from the environment to guide behavior. Yet, how neural circuits integrate multiple, potentially conflicting, inputs during decision-making remains poorly understood. Here, we use larval zebrafish to address this question, leveraging their robust optomotor response to coherent random dot motion and phototaxis towards light. We demonstrate that animals employ an additive behavioral algorithm of three visual features: motion coherence, luminance level, and changes in luminance. Using brain-wide two-photon imaging, we identify the loci of these computations, with the anterior hindbrain emerging as a multifeature sensory integration hub. Through single-cell neurotransmitter and morphological analyses of functionally identifi

SUBMITTER: Slangewal K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12363855 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature