Locomotion optimizes sensory representations through a computational principle shared by rodents and primates

Abstract

Behavior modulates the activity of sensory systems in multiple ways: from gain changes in individual neurons to changing interactions in neural populations. These effects are not universal; while movement has a strong influence on sensory coding in rodents, its impact on primates is less prominent. The diversity of effects that locomotion exerts on sensory neurons, as well as disparities between species, raises questions about the existence of universal principles that may underlie sensation during behavior. We propose that sensory systems are internally modulated to match systematic changes in stimulus statistics caused by locomotion, to facilitate an accurate and efficient sensory code. We find that model neurons, adapted to stimuli recorded during movement in natural environments, predict and reproduce a broad spectrum of experimental observations in rodents and primates. This simple principle of maintaining coding efficiency across behavioral states reconciles the diversity of ways in which locomotion modulates visual coding in different animal species.