EEG-based visual deviance detection in freely behaving mice

Renate Kat,Berry Van Den Berg,Matthijs Jl Perenboom,Maarten Schenke,Arn Mjm Van Den Maagdenberg,Hilgo Bruining,Else A Tolner,Martien Jh Kas

doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.118757

Renate Kat, Berry Van Den Berg + Show 6 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.118757

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Abstract

The mouse is widely used as an experimental model to study visual processing. To probe how the visual system detects changes in the environment, functional paradigms in freely behaving mice are strongly needed. We developed and validated the first EEG-based method to investigate visual deviance detection in freely behaving mice. Mice with EEG implants were exposed to a visual deviant detection paradigm that involved changes in light intensity as standard and deviant stimuli. By subtracting the standard from the deviant evoked waveform, deviant detection was evident as bi-phasic negativity (starting around 70 ms) in the difference waveform. Additionally, deviance-associated evoked (beta/gamma) and induced (gamma) oscillatory responses were found. We showed that the results were stimulus-independent by applying a “flip-flop” design and the results showed good repeatability in an independent measurement. Together, we put forward a validated, easy-to-use paradigm to measure visual deviance processing in freely behaving mice.

Highlights

The experiments by Hubel and Wiesel on direction selectivity of neurons in the cat visual cortex (Hubel, 1959; Hubel and Wiesel, 1968) have pioneered a growing scientific field on the visual system and its processing abilities
Visual mismatch negativity can be assessed in freely behaving mice
visual evoked potentials (VEPs) recorded from the right and left primary visual cortex (V1), and the first and the second measurement were combined

Summary

Introduction

The experiments by Hubel and Wiesel on direction selectivity of neurons in the cat visual cortex (Hubel, 1959; Hubel and Wiesel, 1968) have pioneered a growing scientific field on the visual system and its processing abilities. The mouse is a widely used animal model to investigate visual processing (Baker, 2013). Transgenic mouse models allow to examine the role of specific cell types or neuronal populations (Sohya et al, 2007; Hamm and Yuste, 2016), as well as to study altered visual processing in the context of human psychiatric disorders (Zhang et al, 2017; Hamm et al, 2020; Perenboom et al, 2020). Assessing measures of visual processing in freely moving mice requires a behavioral setup in which animals are constantly exposed to visual stimuli in their environment irrespective of their bodily position

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