Fig. 2

Visual experience modulates defensive behaviors to visual threat. a Time course for visual experience modification. (i) Mice spent a week in an open-shelf before they were put in an isolation box with (NR-box) or without (DR-box) lighting at P21. They spent a week in the box and behavioral tests were performed at P28 (NR-/DR-box P28 naïve). (ii) After a week of NR- or DR-box rearing, mice were returned to an open-shelf condition for an additional week before the behavioral test was performed at P35 (NR-/DR-box P35 naïve). (iii) Mice used for NR-/DR-box P28 naïve condition (i) were returned to the open-shelf, then tested again at P35 (NR-/DR-box P35 experienced). b Representative trajectories of NR-/DR-box mice after indicated rearing conditions in response to expanding disk stimuli. c and e Box plots representing probabilities for escape (c) and freezing (e) responses to expanding disk stimuli after the indicated rearing conditions. A box represents the first and third quartiles. The whiskers represent the sample minimum and maximum, respectively. White dot, mean; line in the box, median; cross, outlier. * represents P < 0.05 with the Mann–Whitney U test. N.S., not significant. d and f Comparison of escape (d) or freezing (f) probability between the same DR-box P28 naïve and DR-box P35 experienced mice. Gray dots connected with a line represent data obtained from the same mouse at P28 and P35. Black dots indicate the mean value. Error bars, ± SEM. * represents P < 0.05 with the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. N.S., not significant