Multisensory integration in the context of escape, from cell circuits to behavior

MEDAN, VIOLETA

Congreso; Congreso Anual de la Sociedad Airgentina de Neurociencias; 2020

Different sensory systems provide animals with valuable information that allows them to identify possible threats and react accordingly. In fish, the Mauthner cell receives inputs from the visual and auditory systems and commands the C-start escape response. We combined optic tectum and auditory stimulation with in vivo intracellular recordings to study multisensory integration in the Mauthner cell of goldfish. We found that weak audio-tectal cues produce a sublinear multisensory enhancement of the Mauthner cell response. Paralleling electrophysiological results, behavioral experiments provided a functional role for multisensory integration. We found the strongest multisensory enhancement when multimodal stimuli have minimum intensity while it disappears as salience increases. In addition, spatial alignment and temporal overlap between auditory and visual cues contribute to enhanced multisensory integration.