RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Prediction of Primary Somatosensory Neuron Activity During Active Tactile Exploration JF bioRxiv FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory SP 024364 DO 10.1101/024364 A1 Dario Campagner A1 Mathew Evans A1 Michael R. Bale A1 Andrew Erskine A1 Rasmus S. Petersen YR 2015 UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2015/08/10/024364.abstract AB Primary sensory neurons form the interface between world and brain. Their function is well-understood during passive stimulation but, under natural behaving conditions, sense organs are under active, motor control. In an attempt to predict primary neuron firing under natural conditions of sensorimotor integration, we recorded from primary mechanosensory neurons of awake, head-fixed mice as they explored a pole with their whiskers, and simultaneously measured both whisker motion and forces with high-speed videography. Using Generalised Linear Models, we found that primary neuron responses were poorly predicted by kinematics but well-predicted by rotational forces acting on the whisker: both during touch and free-air whisker motion. These results are discrepant with previous studies of passive stimulation, but could be reconciled by differences in the kinematics-force relationship between active and passive conditions. Thus, simple statistical models can predict rich neural activity elicited by natural, exploratory behaviour involving active movement of the sense organs.