Distributed burst firing mediates optimized cortical encoding of natural self-motion.
Overview
- Department of Physiology, McGill University, Montreal, Canada
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
- Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
- Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
- Kavli Neuroscience Discovery Institute, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
Abstract
Accurate perception of self-motion requires that vestibular input be transformed into neural representations suitable for integrating multisensory cues to guide action. Here, we demonstrate that vestibular cortical neurons represent the self-motion stimuli encountered during everyday activities in a fundamentally different manner than the artificial self-motion stimuli typically used. Using stimuli whose waveforms reproduce the head dynamics encountered in natural behavior, we found that neural activity no longer tracked stimulus velocity through graded firing-rate changes, as observed during artificial sinusoidal stimulation, but instead reliably encoded distinct motion features through burst firing. At the population level, these bursts formed a distributed code that enhanced information transmission by reducing redundancy. This transformation emerged only during natural stimulation and was absent in the vestibular thalamus. Together, our results demonstrate that the vestibular cortex constructs a distributed, feature-based representation of natural self-motion, fundamentally reshaping our understanding of how cortical circuits encode vestibular signals to mediate perception.
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Version 3, 28 September 2026
- Funding: added Canadian Institutes of Health Research: PJT-203699
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Recorded: type, language, journal, volume, issue, pages, dates, 4 authors, 6 MeSH terms, 88 references.
Cite
This paper
Carriot, J., Mackrous, I., Cullen, K. E., & Chacron, M. J. (2026). Distributed burst firing mediates optimized cortical encoding of natural self-motion. Science advances, 12(32), eaee8327. https://
BibTeX
@article{carriot2026dist
author = {Carriot, Jerome and Mackrous, Isabelle and Cullen, Kathleen E and Chacron, Maurice J},
title = {{Distributed burst firing mediates optimized cortical encoding of natural self-motion}},
journal = {Science advances},
year = {2026},
month = aug,
volume = {12},
number = {32},
pages = {eaee8327},
publisher = {American Association for the Advancement of Science},
issn = {2375-2548},
doi = {10.1126/
url = {https://
pmid = {42566537},
pmcid = {PMC13450226}
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
AU - Carriot, Jerome
AU - Mackrous, Isabelle
AU - Cullen, Kathleen E
AU - Chacron, Maurice J
TI - Distributed burst firing mediates optimized cortical encoding of natural self-motion
T2 - Science advances
J2 - Sci Adv
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/
VL - 12
IS - 32
SP - eaee8327
SN - 2375-2548
PB - American Association for the Advancement of Science
DO - 10.1126/
UR - https://
LA - en
ER -
CSL-JSON
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