High-Yield Methods for Accurate Two-Alternative Visual Psychophysics in Head-Fixed Mice.

ABSTRACT: Research in neuroscience increasingly relies on the mouse, a mammalian species that affords unparalleled genetic tractability and brain atlases. Here, we introduce high-yield methods for probing mouse visual decisions. Mice are head-fixed, facilitating repeatable visual stimulation, eye tracking, and brain access. They turn a steering wheel to make two alternative choices, forced or unforced. Learning is rapid thanks to intuitive coupling of stimuli to wheel position. The mouse decisions deliver high-quality psychometric curves for detection and discrimination and conform to the predictions of a simple probabilistic observer model. The task is readily paired with two-photon imaging of cortical activity. Optogenetic inactivation reveals that the task requires mice to use their visual cortex

SUBMITTER: Burgess CP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5603732 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature