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Updated: Apr 19, 2026
Using Looming Visual Stimuli to Evaluate Mouse Vision
Published on: June 13, 2019
Effects of locomotion extend throughout the mouse early visual system
Sinem Erisken1, Agne Vaiceliunaite2, Ovidiu Jurjut3
1Werner Reichardt Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, University of Tübingen, 72076 Tübingen, Germany; Graduate Training Centre of Neuroscience, University of Tübingen, 72074 Tübingen, Germany.
Background:
Neural responses in visual cortex depend not only on sensory input but also on behavioral context. One such context is locomotion, which modulates single-neuron activity in primary visual cortex (V1). How locomotion affects neuronal populations across cortical layers and in precortical structures is not well understood.
Results:
We performed extracellular multielectrode recordings in the visual system of mice during locomotion and stationary periods. We found that locomotion influenced activity of V1 neurons with a characteristic laminar profile and shaped the population response by reducing pairwise correlations. Although the reduction of pairwise correlations was restricted to cortex, locomotion slightly but consistently increased firing rates and controlled tuning selectivity already in the dorsolateral geniculate nucleus (dLGN) of the thalamus. At the level of the eye, increases in locomotion speed were associated with pupil dilation.
Conclusions:
These findings document further, nonmultiplicative effects of locomotion, reaching earlier processing stages than cortex.
