Optoception: perception of optogenetic brain stimulation

How do animals experience brain manipulations? Optogenetics has allowed us to manipulate selectively and interrogate neural circuits underlying brain function in health and disease. However, it is currently unknown whether mice could perceive arbitrary optogenetic stimulation in addition to their evoked physiological functions. To address this issue, mice were trained to report an optogenetic stimulation as a cue to obtain rewards and avoid punishments. It was found that mice could perceive optogenetic manipulations regardless of the brain area modulated, their rewarding effects, or the stimulation of glutamatergic, GABAergic, and dopaminergic cell types. We named this phenomenon optoception. Using optoception, mice could learn to execute two different sets of instructions based on the laser frequency. Importantly, optoception can occur either activating or silencing a single cell type. Our findings revealed that mice’s brains are capable of “monitoring” their self-activity, albeit indirectly, perhaps via interoception or as a discriminative stimulus, opening a new way to introduce information to the brain and control brain-computer interfaces.