A behavioral paradigm for measuring perceptual distances in mice

Perceptual similarities between a specific stimulus and other stimuli of the same modality provide valuable information about the structure and geometry of sensory spaces. While typically assessed in human behavioral experiments, perceptual similarities—or distances—are rarely measured in other species. However, understanding the neural computations responsible for sensory representations requires the monitoring and often manipulation of neural activity, which is more readily achieved in non-human experimental models. Here, we develop a behavioral paradigm that enables the quantification of perceptual similarity between sensory stimuli using mouse olfaction as a model system.