An egocentric map prioritizing peri-personal space in the mouse rostro-lateral visual area

Abstract

All physical interactions between an organism and its environment occur within the space immediately adjacent to and surrounding its body, its peripersonal space (PPS). This space has been extensively studied behaviorally in humans, and through sparse single-neuron recordings in primates. However, how PPS is represented and organized at cellular and circuit scales remains poorly understood. Here, using dense extracellular recordings in the mouse rostro-lateral visual cortex (VISrl; >19,000 single units), we reveal the cellular and circuit organization of PPS in mice. Visuo-tactile neurons prioritize near-body space while also representing farther space in a direction-selective manner, tracking approaching but not receding objects across the environment. VISrl PPS neurons integrate vision and touch nonlinearly, and their tactile responses are progressively facilitated as visual objects near the body. PPS neurons are embedded in structured networks characterized by "like-to-like" functional connectivity and remap according to recent visuo-tactile statistics. Together, these findings establish VISrl as a circuit-accessible substrate for PPS, and reveal how near-body space is represented by a dynamic, plastic, multisensory cortical network.