Fig. 3: Modulation of vS1 by SC is not due to whisker movement.

a Circuits of interest showing two possible pathways through which SC could impact on responses in vS1. Modified from Castro-Alamancos and Keller²⁵. b Schematic of the experimental arrangement using a high-speed camera to monitor whisker movement while activating SC optogenetically via an optic fiber. c Whisker movement during optogenetic activation of SC. d Schematic of the experimental arrangement. Whiskers were monitored during optogenetic activation of SC before and during facial nerve cooling. e Pixel change in a region of interest around whiskers during optogenetic activation of SC versus time before and after facial nerve cooling. Dark blue shows the mean and light blue the SEM across 50 trials. f Mean whisker pixel change (n = 3 animals) in response to optogenetic activation of SC before and after cutting or cooling the facial nerve. Error bars represent SEM. g Schematic of the experimental arrangement. The impact of optogenetic activation of SC on vS1 responses was measured before and after facial nerve block. h Baseline spiking of vS1 neurons does not significantly change after facial nerve inactivation (p > 0.05 Two-sided paired t-test; facial nerve cooling: n = 16; facial nerve cut: n = 8). i Pooled data showing the impact of SC activation (green) on the whisker input–output relationship (orange) for whisker responsive vS1 neurons before and after facial nerve inactivation (facial nerve cooling: n = 16 neurons; facial nerve cut: n = 8 neurons). The spiking of each neuron was normalized to the maximum response to whisker stimulation alone. Error bars represent SEM. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.