Divergent movement of adjacent whiskers.
نویسندگان
چکیده
The current view of whisker movement is that approximately 25 whiskers on each side of the face move in synchrony. To determine whether whiskers are constrained to move together, we trained rats to use two whiskers on the same side of the face in simple behavioral tasks and videotaped the whiskers during the task. Here we report that the movement of adjacent whiskers is usually synchronous but can diverge: 1) the distance between whiskers can vary dramatically during movement; 2) one whisker can move while the second one remains stationary; 3) two whiskers can simultaneously move in opposite directions; and 4) one whisker can be maintained in contact with an object while the other is retracted and protracted. The frequency of whisker movement during the task falls within the previously reported range for rats whisking freely into air or performing roughness discrimination with their whiskers. Our data also suggest that whisker movement can be divided into three distinct phases: protraction, retraction, and a measurable delay between these movements. We conclude that, although whiskers often move in concert, adjacent caudal whiskers can be moved independently of each other.
منابع مشابه
Thalamocortical response transformation in the rat vibrissa/barrel system.
1. Extracellular single-unit recordings and controlled whisker stimuli were used to compare response properties between cells in the "barreloids" of the thalamic ventrobasal complex and those in the cytochrome oxidase-rich centers of the "barrels" in the first somatic sensory cortex. Individual vibrissae were deflected alone or in paired combination involving the neuron's maximally excitatory w...
متن کاملSpatial gradients and inhibitory summation in the rat whisker barrel system.
1. Extracellular single-unit recordings and controlled whisker stimuli were used to compare response properties of cells in the barreloids of the ventral posterior medial nucleus of the thalamus and the barrels in the rat primary somatosensory cortex. Whiskers were deflected alone or in combinations involving up to four immediately adjacent whiskers to assess their relative inhibitory and excit...
متن کاملEffect of phasic electrical locus coeruleus stimulation on inhibitory and excitatory receptive fields of layer V barrel cortex neurons in male rat
Introduction: It is believed that Locus Coeruleus (LC) influences the sensory information processing. However, its role in cortical surround inhibitory mechanism is not understood. In this experiment, using controlled mechanical displacement of whiskers we investigated the effect of phasic electrical stimulation of LC on response of layer V barrel cortical neurons in anesthetized rat. Methods: ...
متن کاملDendroarchitecture and lateral inhibition in thalamic barreloids.
Thalamic cells that relay vibrissa information to barrel cortex are clustered within whisker-related modules termed barreloids. Each barreloid receives input from one principal whisker and inhibitory inputs from reticular thalamic neurons with receptive fields that correspond to that same whisker. Although the proximal dendrites of relay cells are confined to their home barreloid, distal dendri...
متن کاملWhisker-Mediated Texture Discrimination
Our sense of touch provides information about nearby objects that can affect us in an immediate way. Texture, a central component of touch, is sensed quickly, even before an object is explored to measure its size, shape, or identity. To learn how contact with a surface produces a sensation of texture, many laboratories have examined the whisker system of rodents. Touch sensed through the whiske...
متن کاملذخیره در منابع من
با ذخیره ی این منبع در منابع من، دسترسی به آن را برای استفاده های بعدی آسان تر کنید
برای دانلود متن کامل این مقاله و بیش از 32 میلیون مقاله دیگر ابتدا ثبت نام کنید
ثبت ناماگر عضو سایت هستید لطفا وارد حساب کاربری خود شوید
ورودعنوان ژورنال:
- Journal of neurophysiology
دوره 87 3 شماره
صفحات -
تاریخ انتشار 2002