Imaging the Cortical Representation of Active Sensing in the Vibrissa System

Rodents explore the environment with their facial whiskers using active whisking to collect information about object location and identity. The sensory information gathered is processed in the vibrissa system, a hierarchical network of interacting brain regions, comprising brainstem nuclei, thalamus subdivisions and neocortical regions. In the neocortex, neural representations of whisking and touch are formed to guide and adapt behavior given the environmental context. The exact features of these representations and their spatiotemporal dynamics still remain elusive. In this chapter, we provide an overview of in vivo functional imaging techniques that enable the study of spatiotemporal profiles of cortical activity during whisking-based behavior. We discuss imaging applications covering the large scale as well as the level of local cellular circuits, with a special focus on studies employing two-photon calcium imaging. We summarize recent findings on the cortical representation of passive and active sensation and of task-relevant whisker dynamics.

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