Keeping an eye on cortical states.
Membrane potential recordings in awake mice have correlated cortical state with locomotion and whisker movements. In this issue of Neuron, Reimer et al. (2014) now reveal that pupil dilation in stationary mice equally signals a change in cortical state and an enhancement of visual processing.
Department of Neuroscience, Max-Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC), Berlin-Buch, Robert-Rössle-Str. 10, 13092 Berlin, Germany; Cluster of Excellence NeuroCure, Neuroscience Research Center, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Charitéplatz 1, 10117 Berlin, Germany. Electronic address: james.poulet@mdc-berlin.de.
James F A
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D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D005106:Exploratory Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D011680:Pupil / Q000502:physiology*; D014851:Wakefulness / Q000502:physiology*