The Neuronal Basis of Odor-Trail Tracking in Mice

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When moving through the world, an animal is constantly bombarded with sensory information that must be parsed quickly for the animal to plan actions. Yet, the nervous system is limited in the amount of information it can handle. Thus, to avoid sensory overload the perception must actively attend specific aspects of these information streams. Such focusing is called active sensing and is the fundamental operational mode of many sensory systems.Mammals use active sensing to track odor trails - recent scientific claims argue that rodents' behavior during odor-trail tracking is remarkably sophisticated. Sniffing rates rise up to four times above the normal respiration frequency and each sniff selectively determines which part of the external world is sampled. Yet, an algorithmic understanding of their search strategy as well as its neuronal basis is lacking. We propose to study the neural substrate of active sensing during olfaction in mice. For this purpose, we will develop an experimental setup that can flexibly deliver tightly controlled odor trails on a custom-build treadmill, while simultaneously allowing us to record from the early olfactory areas in mice that are following the trail. Our aims are to understand the neural representation of odors during this natural behavior and reveal the neuronal basis of odor tracking behavior.