A CLOSED-LOOP APPROACH TO STUDY THALAMIC BURSTING IN SENSORIMOTOR LEARNING

Freely moving mice can learn to discriminate sensory stimuli through whisker-based exploration, providing a powerful model for studying sensorimotor learning. In a Go/No-Go task, mice discriminate between two aperture widths using their whiskers. Previous work has identified thalamic burst-coding neurons that encode the task rule via the presence or absence of burst firing. Suppression of thalamic bursting slows learning, suggesting a causal role for burst activity in learning processes. Here, we test whether inducing thalamic bursting can enhance learning speed and behavioral performance. We aim to establish a closed-loop experimental framework that detects whisker contact with the aperture in real time and triggers optogenetic stimulation contingent on this sensory event. By combining closed-loop stimulation with electrophysiological recordings, precise temporal alignment of sensory input, thalamic activity, and targeted intervention can be achieved. This approach will provide a powerful tool to dissect the neuronal mechanisms underlying whisker-dependent sensorimotor learning in freely moving mice.