Fig. 4: Coding of head kinematics.

a Schematics of the three head kinematic variables analyzed in this study. b Simultaneous recordings of head kinematics (lower traces) and single-unit spike activity (raster plot, top colored traces). The spike shapes of the recorded units are depicted, using the same color code, on the right. c Examples of thalamic tunings to head kinematics. Tuning curves of two POm single units (“Unit A”, left and right columns and “unit B”, middle column), recorded in a whisker-trimmed mouse, are depicted. Top, tuning curves as a function of recording time (see “Methods” section for binning). Plots were smoothed. Bottom, mean tuning curves, averaged across the entire recording period. The gray traces depict 100 tunings computed from shuffled data (see “Methods” section). Each curve, of both empirical and shuffled data, is normalized to its maximal value; the firing rates labeling the ordinate in each plot refer to the empirical data only. d Distributions of the kinematic variables of the head throughout all recording sessions. e Examples of significant tuning curves computed for VPM, POm and untagged (gray) neurons. Gray traces are mean ± 1SD of the shuffled traces. Dotted curves depict the circular von Mises fits to head azimuth tuning (see “Methods” section). Examples were taken from 4 POm mice in 6 sessions (4 with whiskers and 2 without) and 3 VPM mice in 4 sessions (2 with whiskers and 2 without). Each curve, of both empirical and shuffled data, is normalized to its maximal value; the firing rates labeling the ordinate in each plot refer to the empirical data only. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.