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Visual uncertainty and task demands shape active sensing strategies in mice.
Célia Benquet1, Thomas Sainsbury1, Léo Bruneau1
1EPFL Neuro, School of Life Sciences, EPFL, Genève, Switzerland.
Biorxiv : the Preprint Server for Biology
|July 3, 2026
Summary
Mice actively seek visual information to make decisions, a behavior called infotaxis. This study shows mice use active strategies to navigate visual uncertainty, even with low-acuity vision.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Animal Behavior
- Computational Vision
Background:
- Animals actively gather sensory information for behavior.
- Infotaxis describes information-seeking navigation.
- Mice use vision for navigation and prey capture despite low acuity.
Purpose of the Study:
- Investigate visual decision-making in mice under naturalistic conditions.
- Determine if mice perform infotaxis.
- Assess sensitivity to visual information and active sensing strategies.
Main Methods:
- Developed a virtual reality (VR) object discrimination task.
- Utilized a free-range setup for naturalistic behavior.
- Analyzed head-body movements and speed to decode decisions.
Main Results:
- Mice demonstrate infotaxis by actively seeking informative views.
- Performance in object discrimination is modulated by visual information availability.
- Decision-making reflects sensitivity to visual occlusion.
Conclusions:
- Mice employ principled active strategies to resolve visual uncertainty.
- Information-seeking plays a crucial role in natural vision for mice.
- Active visual sensing strategies are key to navigating complex environments.
