A tactile discrimination task to study neuronal dynamics in freely-moving mice

Filippo Heimburg, Nadin Mari Saluti, Josephine Timm, Avi Adlakha, Maria Helena Bortolozzo-Gleich, Jesús Martín-Cortecero, Melina Castelanelli, Matthias Klumpp, Lee Embray, Martin Both, Thomas Kuner and Alexander Groh ()
Additional contact information
Filippo Heimburg: Heidelberg University
Nadin Mari Saluti: Heidelberg University
Josephine Timm: Heidelberg University
Avi Adlakha: Heidelberg University
Maria Helena Bortolozzo-Gleich: Heidelberg University
Jesús Martín-Cortecero: Heidelberg University
Melina Castelanelli: Heidelberg University
Matthias Klumpp: Heidelberg University
Lee Embray: Heidelberg University
Martin Both: Heidelberg University
Thomas Kuner: Heidelberg University
Alexander Groh: Heidelberg University

Nature Communications, 2025, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-20

Abstract: Abstract Sensory discrimination tasks are valuable tools to study neuronal mechanisms of perception and learning, yet most rodent paradigms rely on head fixation. Here, we present a whisker-dependent go/no-go discrimination task for freely moving mice, compatible with high-resolution electrophysiology and calcium imaging. Adult male mice rapidly learned to discriminate aperture widths while foraging on a linear platform, enabling investigations of tactile thresholds, rule reversals, and behavioral flexibility. Neural recordings revealed distributed tactile coding across the thalamocortical system, with units tuned to both sensory and motor features, including whisking, head angle, and spatial position. Aperture selectivity emerged in the barrel cortex during learning, and cortical lesions impaired performance, highlighting cortical involvement in learning and task execution. The setup is modular, automated, and supports simultaneous recordings and imaging aligned to naturalistic behavior. This platform provides a powerful tool to dissect sensory processing and learning in ethologically relevant conditions.

Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-61792-0 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-61792-0

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-61792-0

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().