Active sensing is the process by which organisms selectively extract information from their environment through actions such as eye motions, sniffing, or body motions like finger scanning. This project explored full-body coordination in mice during whisker-based tactile exploration, a key example of active sensing. Videos of mice searching for randomly located water rewards were analyzed using DeepLabCut (DLC), an open-source machine learning application for pose estimation. In ongoing analysis, we are investigating if detection of tactile contacts, or changes in head and body trajectories, are influenced by the timing of foot placement. Better understanding of motor coordination during tactile exploration could inform future treatments for sensory impairments and the development of technologies such as haptic interfaces.
Hung, Christina,
"Full-Body Coordination in Mice During Tactile Exploration"
(2021).
Summer Research Symposium.
Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library.
https://doi.org/10.26300/m4e5-9z08
Each year, Brown University showcases the research of its undergraduates at the Summer Research Symposium. More than half of the student-researchers are UTRA recipients, while others receive funding from a variety of Brown-administered and national programs and fellowships and go …
