HEAD–EYE COORDINATION IN VISUALLY GUIDED ORIENTING IN MICE: A FREELY-MOVING PARADIGM FOR ACTIVE VISION

Stabilizing vision during self-motion is a fundamental challenge for sensorimotor integration. Animals employ a range of strategies to compensate for self-generated motion, including tightly coordinated head–eye movements. In foveate species, such as primates, the gain and timing of head–eye coupling depend on task demands. By contrast, eye movements in afoveate mice are thought to be largely compensatory, serving primarily to stabilize visual input during head movements. However, a systematic quantitative characterization of head–eye coordination in freely moving mice across defined visual task contexts has been lacking.
We developed a closed-loop behavioral framework in which mice orient toward and pursue head-aligned visual projections in an open-field arena. Inspired by classic primate fixation and saccade paradigms, the framework includes discrete target orienting, continuous pursuit, and competitive decision-making between two targets under varying reward contingencies. This approach combines ecological validity with experimental control, providing high trial counts and craniotopically defined reproducible visual inputs compared with complex natural tasks such as prey capture, while avoiding limitations of head-fixed methods.
Using simultaneous tracking of binocular eye movements and high-resolution 3D head kinematics, we quantified head–eye coordination across task contexts. This paradigm enables direct comparisons between orienting and pursuit behaviors, predictable and unpredictable stimuli, and binary choice scenarios. Importantly, the framework is compatible with miniature two-photon calcium imaging, providing a versatile platform to link neural dynamics with visuomotor strategies that support visual stabilization and active vision in freely moving mice.