Figure 3.

Head Direction Cells Are Unstable before Eye Opening but Maintain Coherence

(A) Polar plots showing distribution of firing rate for ten pairs of head direction cells from a single experiment before eye opening. One member of the pair is shown in red, the other in blue. Cell number (1–5) and peak firing rate are indicated for each cell. All head directions were covered during all recording trials. Note that cells are unstable between trials yet rotate in a coherent manner.

(B) Change in mean firing direction across trials for individual cells. The analysis includes all cells that were recorded simultaneously with one or several other head direction cells on two consecutive trials before eye opening.

(C) Change in relative firing direction (angular difference) across trials for all pairs of head direction cells recorded on two consecutive trials. Low values imply that relative firing directions are maintained.