Dissociating neuronal signatures of spatial attention and behavioural state in the primary vibrissal cortex of mice

Dissociating neuronal signatures of spatial attention and behavioural state in the primary vibrissal cortex of mice | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Dissociating neuronal signatures of spatial attention and behavioural state in the primary vibrissal cortex of mice Guthrie Dyce, Taylor Singh, Jason Mattingley, Ehsan Arabzadeh This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4368226/v3 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 3 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Show more versions Abstract The prioritisation and selective processing of information is imperative to survival. One form of prioritisation, known as spatial attention, allows an animal to selectively process sensory input based on its location. While spatial attention is known to produce changes in neuronal activity, as early as the primary sensory cortex, it is unclear whether phasic changes induced by selective spatial attention differ from those observed with non-selective fluctuations in behavioural states such as arousal. To study attention, the rodent whisker system represents a structurally elegant, and functionally efficient alternative to the often-studied primate visual system. Here, we implemented a novel, ecologically relevant paradigm to incorporate spatial attention in a whisker vibration detection task in mice. We demonstrated that mice (n=11) exhibit spatially selective evidence accumulation behaviour within their responses to single vibration stimuli, across their responses to tens of stimuli, and throughout each day of training. To dissociate the neuronal signatures of spatial attention from those of spatially non-specific behavioural state, we recorded 1461 responsive units in the primary vibrissal cortex (vS1) as mice engaged in the detection task. The strength of neuronal responses to vibrissal stimulation correlated significantly with spatial attention, but not with spatially non-specific behavioural state. We found that spatial attention elevates both baseline and stimulus-evoked neuronal activity, especially during a later (200-600 ms) component of stimulus-evoked responses. These results have implications for the microcircuitry of spatial attention in vS1 and value-driven attentional capture in mice. Biological sciences/Neuroscience/Somatosensory system/Whisker system Biological sciences/Neuroscience/Cognitive neuroscience/Attention Biological sciences/Neuroscience/Sensory processing Biological sciences/Neuroscience/Motivation Biological sciences/Neuroscience/Reward spatial attention state vibrissal cortex mice Full Text Additional Declarations The authors declare no competing interests. Supplementary Files DyceEtAl2026manuscriptsupplement.pdf Supplementary Results Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 3 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Show more versions Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-4368226","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":612694870,"identity":"444ab6b3-d26d-482b-9f02-ea6a91080fb3","order_by":0,"name":"Guthrie 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One form of \u0026nbsp;prioritisation, known as spatial attention, allows an animal to selectively process sensory input \u0026nbsp;based on its location. While spatial attention is known to produce changes in neuronal activity, \u0026nbsp;as early as the primary sensory cortex, it is unclear whether phasic changes induced by \u0026nbsp;selective spatial attention differ from those observed with non-selective fluctuations in \u0026nbsp;behavioural states such as arousal. To study attention, the rodent whisker system represents a \u0026nbsp;structurally elegant, and functionally efficient alternative to the often-studied primate visual \u0026nbsp;system. Here, we implemented a novel, ecologically relevant paradigm to incorporate spatial \u0026nbsp;attention in a whisker vibration detection task in mice. We demonstrated that mice (n=11) \u0026nbsp;exhibit spatially selective evidence accumulation behaviour within their responses to single \u0026nbsp;vibration stimuli, across their responses to tens of stimuli, and throughout each day of training. \u0026nbsp;To dissociate the neuronal signatures of spatial attention from those of spatially non-specific \u0026nbsp;behavioural state, we recorded 1461 responsive units in the primary vibrissal cortex (vS1) as \u0026nbsp;mice engaged in the detection task. The strength of neuronal responses to vibrissal stimulation \u0026nbsp;correlated significantly with spatial attention, but not with spatially non-specific behavioural \u0026nbsp;state. We found that spatial attention elevates both baseline and stimulus-evoked neuronal \u0026nbsp;activity, especially during a later (200-600 ms) component of stimulus-evoked \u0026nbsp;responses. These results have implications for the microcircuitry of spatial attention in vS1 and \u0026nbsp;value-driven attentional capture in mice.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Dissociating neuronal signatures of spatial attention and behavioural state in the primary vibrissal cortex of mice","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":3,"date":"2026-03-27 19:26:52","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4368226/v3","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}},{"code":2,"date":"2026-02-26 22:14:09","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4368226/v2","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}},{"code":1,"date":"2024-05-14 09:11:02","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4368226/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"1733108e-3518-4d22-988e-ba20f3927199","owner":[],"postedDate":"March 27th, 2026","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[{"id":65219104,"name":"Biological sciences/Neuroscience/Somatosensory system/Whisker system"},{"id":65219105,"name":"Biological sciences/Neuroscience/Cognitive neuroscience/Attention"},{"id":65219106,"name":"Biological sciences/Neuroscience/Sensory processing"},{"id":65219107,"name":"Biological sciences/Neuroscience/Motivation"},{"id":65219108,"name":"Biological sciences/Neuroscience/Reward"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2024-06-20T10:20:10+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2026-03-27 19:26:52","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v3","identity":"rs-4368226","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-4368226","identity":"rs-4368226","version":["v3"]},"buildId":"XKTyCvWXoU3ODBz1xrDgd","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}