Distributed burst firing mediates optimized cortical encoding of natural self-motion.

Overview

1. Department of Physiology, McGill University, Montreal, Canada
2. Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
3. Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
4. Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
5. 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.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY-NC), from the paper cited above.

Code

No file of the authors' code could be read here: it is described below, and read at its source.

The paper's code and data availability statement is in the Data section.

Tracing map

Proposed by the machine: these links were found in the paper and verified at the source, without human review. The map will receive a Zenodo DOI once one of the paper's authors has validated it with their ORCID.

What the map holds:

• 1 repository of the authors' code, each at its verified commit, with its license and how the link was found in the paper;
• 0 scripts, each with its path and the digest of its content;
• no match between paragraphs and code yet;
• neither the text of the paper nor the code itself.

Its JSON (tracing-map.json) is deposited on Zenodo with its DOI once the map is validated.

Data

No dataset and no data link were found in the paper.

Data, code, and materials availability

All data and code needed to evaluate and reproduce the results in the paper are either present in the paper and/or the Supplementary Materials or are available from the Borealis database (https://borealisdata.ca/privateurl.xhtml?token=37880b0e-d761-4ab3-8ca7-b1371119bfce). This study did not generate new materials.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY-NC), from the paper cited above.

Versions

The history of this record: each version stored by the harvester or made by a correction of its authors or of the maintainers of its code, and what changed in its facts. The texts of the paper (its abstract, its availability statements) are not part of it; versions that changed only those are not listed.

Version 3, 28 September 2026

• Funding: added Canadian Institutes of Health Research: PJT-203699

Version 1, 27 September 2026: the first record

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://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aee8327

The tracing map gets a citation of its own once an author has validated it and it has a DOI.

Similar papers

The papers with a page that share the most with this one: the tools found in their code, their categories, datasets, cited references and authors, the rarest counting most.

[1] doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.3003972 [code]

Visual motion does not bias gravity-referenced vestibular coding in the primate cerebellar nodulus and uvula.

Journal: PLoS biology

In common: cognitive, 4 references, author Kathleen E. Cullen

[2] doi:10.1523/eneuro.0357-25.2026 [code]

Spike Generation in Electroreceptor Afferents Introduces Additional Spectral Response Components by Weakly Nonlinear Interactions.

Journal: eNeuro

In common: 3 references

[3] doi:10.1038/s41467-026-76581-6 [code]

Thalamocortical bursts encode reward contingencies and drive associative learning.

Journal: Nature communications

In common: 2 references

[4] doi:10.1016/j.celrep.2026.117794 [code]

Subicular plateaus signal reward locations during goal-directed behavior.

Journal: Cell reports

In common: 2 references

[5] doi:10.1038/s41467-026-76183-2

Vestibular nucleus stimulation for ameliorating locomotor dynamics in a Parkinsonian mouse model.

Journal: Nature communications

In common: 2 references

[6] doi:10.7554/elife.99611 [code]

Intrinsic properties link a network model to zebra finch song.

Journal: eLife

In common: 2 references

[7] doi:10.1016/j.isci.2026.116125 [code]

Post-synaptic facilitation and network dynamics underlying stimulus-specific combination sensitivity.

Journal: iScience

In common: 2 references

[8] doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2026.122085 [code]

Lifespan trajectories of the brain's functional complexity characterized by multiscale sample entropy.

Journal: NeuroImage

In common: cognitive, 1 reference

[9] doi:10.7554/elife.108017 [code]

Visual working memory guides attention rhythmically in humans.

Journal: eLife

In common: cognitive, 1 reference

[10] doi:10.1038/s41467-026-74566-z [code]

Low-dimensional and optimised representations of high-level information in the expert brain.

Journal: Nature communications

In common: cognitive, 1 reference

Contribute

The authors of this paper can claim it, correct its record and validate its tracing map, and the maintainers of its code (its owner, or a public member of its organization) correct what it says of their repository; anyone signed in can ask for its removal. Every request goes to OSCR's own machine, which answers it; your account page follows them.

Request its removal

To ask OSCR to remove this record, the copies of its authors' scripts or its tracing map, use the removal request page: signed in, you say who you are, what to remove and why, then review and confirm the request. Published rules decide every request (how).

Discussion: questions and error reports about this paper and its code, from signed-in readers and its authors. It opens with sign-in.

Reproductions: reports from readers who ran the authors' code: what they reproduced, with which environment, commit and data. It opens with sign-in.

Activity: what happens around this paper: new versions of its record, its map's validation, discussions and reproductions. It opens with sign-in.