New preprint!

We are excited to share a new preprint from the lab, led by PhD student Zachary Nudelman in collaboration with Matthias Nau. Our new paper, “Brain-wide gaze-dependent activity during eyes-closed rest and sleep,” is now available on bioRxiv.

In this study, we investigated whether the neural mechanisms that support eye movements during waking life continue to operate when our eyes are closed, such as during rest or sleep. Using advanced MR-based eye tracking, we found that spontaneous eye movements during these eyes-closed states are associated with robust, brain-wide patterns of neural activity. This suggests that the physiological systems governing gaze remain active and dynamically interact with brain states even in the absence of visual input.

These findings open new avenues for understanding the role of eye movements in internal cognitive processes, memory consolidation, and sleep regulation. You can read the full preprint on bioRxiv and access the accompanying analysis code on our GitHub repository.