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Mouse visual cortex contains a region of enhanced spatial resolution.

Published version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Article

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Authors

Mukherjee, Sreedeep 
Schnabel, Ulf H 
van der Togt, Chris 

Abstract

The representation of space in mouse visual cortex was thought to be relatively uniform. Here we reveal, using population receptive-field (pRF) mapping techniques, that mouse visual cortex contains a region in which pRFs are considerably smaller. This region, the "focea," represents a location in space in front of, and slightly above, the mouse. Using two-photon imaging we show that the smaller pRFs are due to lower scatter of receptive-fields at the focea and an over-representation of binocular regions of space. We show that receptive-fields of single-neurons in areas LM and AL are smaller at the focea and that mice have improved visual resolution in this region of space. Furthermore, freely moving mice make compensatory eye-movements to hold this region in front of them. Our results indicate that mice have spatial biases in their visual processing, a finding that has important implications for the use of the mouse model of vision.

Description

Keywords

Visual Cortex, Animals, Mice, Inbred C57BL, Mice, Eye Movements, Photic Stimulation, Visual Perception, Head Movements, Visual Fields, Female, Male

Journal Title

Nature communications

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

2041-1723

Volume Title

12

Publisher

Sponsorship
Wellcome Trust (211258/Z/18/Z)
European Research Council (339490)