Technical Considerations for Widefield Optical Imaging During Visuomotor Behaviors

In this chapter, we consider visuomotor behaviors in a broad sense as trained or natural motor actions based on external visual information. These behaviors are deemed as involving coordinated neural activity across brain areas, including the visual and motor system. Widefield optical imaging is a valuable tool for studying coordinated neural activity across these areas at the mesoscale. However, visuomotor behaviors can cause spurious imaging signal, making widefield imaging during visuomotor behavior technically challenging. This chapter is intended to provide an overview of the technical considerations for widefield optical imaging to study visuomotor behaviors. In Subheading 1, we discuss unique capabilities of widefield imaging that can be used to study coordinated brain activity within and across multiple areas. In Subheading 2, we survey experimental strategies for achieving widefield imaging during visuomotor behaviors, including recording and visual-stimulation systems. Subheading 3 discusses technical challenges that often arise during widefield imaging of visuomotor behaviors, including hemodynamic and mechanical artifacts that can distort the optical signal. We discuss how to reduce these imaging artifacts through experimental and data analysis approaches that are essential for improving the accuracy and reliability of imaging data.