{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"institution":[{"name":"bioRxiv"}],"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,30]],"date-time":"2026-07-30T14:22:16Z","timestamp":1785421336234,"version":"3.56.0"},"posted":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,2]]},"group-title":"Neuroscience","reference-count":60,"publisher":"openRxiv","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,2]],"date-time":"2025-12-02T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1764633600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"award":["NS077986"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["NS077986"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/01cwqze88","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"award":["DP1 NS137188"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["DP1 NS137188"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/01cwqze88","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"award":["U19NS137920"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["U19NS137920"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/01cwqze88","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"accepted":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,10]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>SUMMARY<\/jats:title>\n                <jats:p>\n                  Perceiving object distance in peri-personal space is essential for guiding movement and avoiding danger. During active sensation, distance information is often anchored to the body via touch; yet how early somatosensory circuits extract distance information from tactile inputs remains unclear. Here, we investigate how second-order neurons in the mouse whisker brainstem encode peri-head distance. Using\n                  <jats:italic>in vivo<\/jats:italic>\n                  extracellular recordings in awake mice in a naturalistic wall-passing paradigm, we find brainstem neurons employ two distance-coding schemes: a \u201cproximity\u201d code, where firing increases monotonically as objects approach the face; and a \u201cmap\u201d code, where neurons exhibit peak tuning at specific distances to collectively tile peri-head space. The map code outperforms proximity code in population decoding of distance. Perturbation experiments reveal multi-whisker integration and internuclear inhibition contribute to the generation of map-like tuning. These findings highlight a previously underappreciated computational role for brainstem circuits, where inhibition acts as a neural comparator to transform proximity-based sensory inputs into a map-like representation of peri-personal space.\n                <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.64898\/2025.11.30.691334","type":"posted-content","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,8]],"date-time":"2025-12-08T12:47:29Z","timestamp":1765198049000},"source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Peri-Head Distance Coding in the Mouse Brainstem"],"prefix":"10.64898","author":[{"given":"Wenxi","family":"Xiao","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kyle S.","family":"Severson","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hao","family":"Zheng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ke","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"P. M.","family":"Thompson","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Manuel S.","family":"Levy","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Seonmi","family":"Choi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Shengli","family":"Zhao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jun","family":"Takatoh","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Vincent","family":"Prevosto","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Fan","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"54368","reference":[{"key":"2025121214301048000_2025.11.30.691334v2.1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.neuron.2013.07.051"},{"key":"2025121214301048000_2025.11.30.691334v2.2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s00422-008-0214-4"},{"key":"2025121214301048000_2025.11.30.691334v2.3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1002\/cne.20778"},{"key":"2025121214301048000_2025.11.30.691334v2.4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"giy134","DOI":"10.1093\/gigascience\/giy134","article-title":"An open-source high-speed infrared videography database to study the principles of active sensing in freely navigating rodents","volume":"7","year":"2018","journal-title":"Gigascience"},{"key":"2025121214301048000_2025.11.30.691334v2.5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.celrep.2015.09.031"},{"key":"2025121214301048000_2025.11.30.691334v2.6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/S0166-4328(05)80242-6"},{"key":"2025121214301048000_2025.11.30.691334v2.7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1523\/JNEUROSCI.4805-09.2010"},{"key":"2025121214301048000_2025.11.30.691334v2.8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1152\/jn.00054.2016"},{"key":"2025121214301048000_2025.11.30.691334v2.9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e39244","DOI":"10.7554\/eLife.39244","article-title":"Sound localization: These are not the neurons you are looking for","volume":"7","year":"2018","journal-title":"eLife"},{"key":"2025121214301048000_2025.11.30.691334v2.10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1152\/jn.00707.2006"},{"key":"2025121214301048000_2025.11.30.691334v2.11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3389\/fnint.2011.00053"},{"key":"2025121214301048000_2025.11.30.691334v2.12","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/S0166-4328(97)83328-1"},{"key":"2025121214301048000_2025.11.30.691334v2.13","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.tics.2018.09.004"},{"key":"2025121214301048000_2025.11.30.691334v2.14","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.7554\/eLife.13969"},{"key":"2025121214301048000_2025.11.30.691334v2.15","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/nrn3241"},{"key":"2025121214301048000_2025.11.30.691334v2.16","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.7554\/eLife.10696"},{"key":"2025121214301048000_2025.11.30.691334v2.17","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/s41467-018-06200-6"},{"key":"2025121214301048000_2025.11.30.691334v2.18","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/0028-3932(94)90152-X"},{"key":"2025121214301048000_2025.11.30.691334v2.19","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/nrn2411"},{"key":"2025121214301048000_2025.11.30.691334v2.20","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cub.2019.12.068"},{"key":"2025121214301048000_2025.11.30.691334v2.21","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1523\/JNEUROSCI.4627-07.2008"},{"key":"2025121214301048000_2025.11.30.691334v2.22","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.7554\/eLife.16039"},{"key":"2025121214301048000_2025.11.30.691334v2.23","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1126\/science.aaa7484"},{"key":"2025121214301048000_2025.11.30.691334v2.24","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1098\/rspb.2018.0592"},{"key":"2025121214301048000_2025.11.30.691334v2.25","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.neuropsychologia.2005.09.009"},{"key":"2025121214301048000_2025.11.30.691334v2.26","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1152\/jn.1996.76.5.2886"},{"key":"2025121214301048000_2025.11.30.691334v2.27","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1073\/pnas.96.13.7587"},{"key":"2025121214301048000_2025.11.30.691334v2.28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"8","DOI":"10.3109\/08990220.2014.937414","article-title":"Whisker-related circuitry in the trigeminal nucleus principalis: topographic precision","volume":"32","year":"2015","journal-title":"Somatosens. 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