Fig. 3: SC neurons prefer externally generated gains in whisker contact.

a Example trial illustrating the experimental design. Initially, the mouse freely whisked in air. After the mouse ran a set distance, external motion in rostral space generated whisker contact (external-GoW). After a period of whisking against the surface, the mouse voluntarily stopped and then restarted whisking to create self-generated touch (Self-GoW). Surface location, whisker position, whisker curvature, and locomotion speed of the animal during the example trial are presented. Vertical dashed lines represent the moment the mouse snapshots on the top are taken. b Three neurons from one mouse comparing responses to external and self-GoW stimulation. Rasters and histograms of spiking aligned to touch onset. c Population-averaged, z-scored firing rates aligned to the onset of external- and self-GoW stimulation (4 mice, 139 neurons). d Population-averaged, z-scored whisker curvature aligned to the onset of external- and self-GoW. e Scatter plot comparing the change in neuronal firing rates for external- and self-GoW stimulation (4 mice, 139 neurons, p = 6e⁻¹³, two-sided Wilcoxon signed rank test). Firing rates are subtracted from their corresponding baselines. f Boxplots comparing the time mice spent without touch before an external- or self-GoW stimulus occurred (p = 0.0351, two-sided Mann–Whitney U-test, n = 108 external touches and 38 self-touches from 4 mice). g Boxplots comparing run speed at external and self-touch onset occurred (p = 4.6e⁻⁷, two-sided Mann–Whitney U-test, n = 108 external touches and 38 self-touches from 4 mice). The central mark indicates the median. The bottom and top edges of the box indicate the 25th and 75th percentiles, respectively. The bottom and the top edges of the whiskers are the minima and maxima, excluding outliers. ‘+’ indicates outliers. All values are mean ± s.e.m. All firing rates are binned at 10 ms. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.