Vision guides active movements such as walking or climbing. Execution of such movements is accompanied by predictable changes in animal’s posture required to maintain balance and prevent falls. However complex environments also impose passive movements that cause unpredictable changes in animal’s balance. Slips due to unstable terrains, movements imposed by vehicles’ acceleration, suspended scaffolding or tree branches are all examples of postural challenges requiring fast motor adjustments.

Previous studies have shown that visual processing is modulated by active movements such as locomotion. However, it is currently unknown how visual processing is affected during passive movements imposed by the environment. We address this question by recording neuronal activity from the thalamic dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus (dLGN) in anaesthetized mice, positioned on platform tilting along pitch, roll, and yaw axes, and in freely moving mice placed on motorised tilting arena. In both anaesthetised and awake animals, we compared responses to light onset and offset when animals were tilted and when stationary.

Our findings reveal that 20%-30% of LGN neurons showed modulated activity in both anaesthetized and freely moving mice. Clustering analyses revealed that these effects encompass both ON and OFF cell types. In darkness, few cells responded directly to tilts in anaesthetised animals but ~25% cells were responsive in awake animals. Both modulation of light responses and direct responses occurred with remarkably short latencies (~50ms).

These results indicate that visual responses undergo fast modulation during passive movements of the tilting platforms. These effects could be functionally relevant to control balance during postural challenges.