Case Study: Joint Coding of Visual Input and Eye/head Position in V1 of Freely Moving Mice

Visual input to the brain during natural behavior is highly dependent on movements of the eyes, head, and body. Neurons in mouse primary visual cortex (V1) respond to eye and head movements, but how information about eye and head position is integrated with visual processing during free movement is unknown, since visual physiology is generally performed under head-fixation. To address this, we performed single-unit electrophysiology in V1 of freely moving mice while simultaneously measuring the mouse’s eye position, head orientation, and the visual scene from the mouse’s perspective. We mapped spatiotemporal receptive fields using a generalized linear model (GLM) that predicted the activity of V1 neurons based on gaze-corrected visual input.