Neural Mechanisms of Visual Perception and Motor Coordination

Academic Background

In daily life, animals need to distinguish sensory experiences caused by the external environment from those elicited by their own movements. This distinction is crucial for accurate perception and motor control. However, the diversity of behaviors and their complex influences on the senses make this task highly challenging. Especially in the visual system, an animal’s movements (such as saccades, locomotion, or pupil changes) can cause blurring or distortion of visual images, a phenomenon known as “self-motion-induced visual perturbations” (reafferent signals). To maintain perceptual coherence, the brain requires a mechanism to compensate for these perturbations, commonly referred to as “motor command copies” or “corollary discharge” (CD).

The corollary discharge mechanism has been extensively studied across multiple species, especially in the context of saccadic suppression in primates. However, many mysteries remain regarding how other types of movements (such as walking or pupil dilation) affect visual processing and how these signals are integrated and transmitted within the nervous system. This study aims to uncover the role of a key neural structure in the brain—the ventral lateral geniculate nucleus (vlGN)—in this process, particularly how it coordinates visual and motor signals through a “hub-and-spoke network” to enable visual perception during movement.

Source of the Paper

This paper was co-authored by Tomas Vega-Zuniga, Anton Sumser, Olga Symonova, Peter Koppensteiner, Florian H. Schmidt, and Maximilian Joesch from the Institute of Science and Technology Austria. It was published in Nature Neuroscience in 2025, with the DOI: 10.1038/s41593-025-01874-w.

Research Workflow and Results

1. vlGN as an Integration Hub for Sensory and Motor Signals

The study first established the central role of the vlGN in integrating visual and motor signals through anatomical and physiological experiments. The vlGN primarily consists of inhibitory neurons and has extensive connections with various sensory and motor-related brain regions. Using viral vectors for retrograde and anterograde labeling, the research team found that the vlGN not only receives input from the retina but also from cortical areas and multiple motor-related brain regions. These inputs include regions associated with emotional and cognitive control, as well as motor coordination, such as the red nucleus and the gigantocellular reticular nucleus.

To verify the modulatory effect of the vlGN on visual processing, the research team conducted electrophysiological recordings and optogenetic experiments in awake mice. By expressing channelrhodopsin-2 (ChR2) in the vlGN, they discovered that activation of the vlGN significantly suppressed visual responses in the superficial superior colliculus (sSC), indicating that the vlGN regulates early visual processing through inhibitory projections.

2. Dynamic Modulation of vlGN During Behavior

Next, the research team recorded the activity of vlGN axonal terminals in the mouse superior colliculus using calcium imaging. The results showed that the activity of vlGN terminals was closely related to various behaviors, such as saccades, locomotion, and pupil dilation. Particularly during visual stimulation, the activity of vlGN terminals exhibited strong responses to high-frequency luminance modulation and forward motion, consistent with visual inputs when animals walk forward in natural environments.

By optogenetically activating the vlGN, researchers observed corrective motor behaviors in mice, such as saccadic eye movements, pupil dilation, and changes in walking direction. These results indicate that the vlGN not only modulates visual signals but also coordinates real-time sensory and motor transformations through widespread projections to multiple motor-related brain regions.

3. Critical Role of vlGN in Visual Perception

To further validate the role of the vlGN in visual perception, the research team conducted a visual cliff experiment in mice. By expressing tetanus toxin light chain (TeLC) in the vlGN to block its output, they found that these mice exhibited significant defects in depth judgment. Compared to the control group, mice with blocked vlGN avoided cliff edges less frequently, indicating impaired visual perception during movement.

Additionally, the researchers found that blocking the vlGN led to the failure of compensatory mechanisms for visual blur during saccades, further confirming the critical role of the vlGN in motion-induced visual perturbations.

Conclusion and Significance

This study reveals that the vlGN acts as a core node in a “hub-and-spoke network,” coordinating visual perception during movement by integrating visual and motor signals. The vlGN not only regulates early visual processing through inhibitory projections but also adjusts sensory and motor transformations in real time through widespread projections to multiple motor-related brain regions. This discovery highlights the important role of the vlGN in maintaining perceptual stability and motor coordination, providing new insights into the neural mechanisms of visual perception and motor control.

Key Highlights of the Study

1. vlGN as an Integration Hub for Visual and Motor Signals: The study is the first to reveal the central role of the vlGN in integrating visual and motor signals, particularly in regulating motion-induced visual perturbations.
2. Role of the “Hub-and-Spoke Network”: The vlGN forms a distributed feedback control system through widespread projections to multiple brain regions, coordinating real-time sensory and motor transformations.
3. Application of Optogenetics and Calcium Imaging: The research team used optogenetics and calcium imaging to record the dynamic activity of the vlGN during mouse behavior, providing direct evidence of its function.
4. Behavioral Validation of Visual Perception: Through visual cliff experiments and saccadic suppression tests, the research team validated the critical role of the vlGN in visual perception during movement.

Other Valuable Information

The findings of this study are not only significant for understanding the neural mechanisms of visual perception and motor control but also provide potential targets for treating related disorders. For example, certain visual perception or motor coordination disorders may be associated with abnormal vlGN function. Future research could further explore the dynamic regulatory mechanisms of the vlGN under different behavioral states and its role in other sensory systems.

Through multidisciplinary technical approaches, this study reveals the critical role of the vlGN in visual perception and motor coordination, providing important theoretical and experimental evidence for the field of neuroscience.