Coordination between Eye Movement and Whisking in Head-Fixed Mice Navigating a Plus Maze.

ABSTRACT: Navigation through complex environments requires motor planning, motor preparation, and the coordination between multiple sensory-motor modalities. For example, the stepping motion when we walk is coordinated with motion of the torso, arms, head, and eyes. In rodents, movement of the animal through the environment is coordinated with whisking. Even head-fixed mice navigating a plus maze position their whiskers asymmetrically with the bilateral asymmetry signifying the upcoming turn direction. Here we report that, in addition to moving their whiskers, on every trial mice also move their eyes conjugately in the direction of the upcoming turn. Not only do mice move their eyes, but they coordinate saccadic eye movement with the asymmetric positioning of the whiskers. Our analysis shows that as

SUBMITTER: Bergmann R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9426778 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jul-Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature