Bayesian integration of tactile and motor information reduces uncertainty about an object’s location in mice
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2015-08-20
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en
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Mice modulate their rhythmic whisking behaviour when they encounter objects in order to influence the acquired sensory information from the touched surface. However, how the motor commands are selected and what mechanism is used to integrate tactile and self-motion information over space and time for object localization is still under debate. We showed with an optimal control and a Bayesian model that a mouse can match their whisking amplitude to the distance to an object in order to prevent strong bending of their whiskers. Moreover, the mouse could estimate an object’s location in head-centered coordinates by optimally integrating contact signals with body movements (velocity) and whisker movements (angular velocity). This resulted in a reduction in uncertainty, but not in accuracy, about the platform location with multiple contacts. Moreover, this uncertainty reduction was more pronounced when distributed sensory signals coming from multiple whiskers were included. The results suggest that body and whisker velocity, and contact information are sufficient in order to get a reliable estimate of object location. We propose a mechanism of sensorimotor integration in the mouse’s brain.
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Faculteit der Sociale Wetenschappen