Neuronal Organization for Electromotor Behaviors

University Of Virginia Main Campus, Charlottesville VA

Investigators

Abstract

In the brain, the process of sensory-motor integration produces behavioral outputs that are generated as a result of sensory computation and orchestration of motor commands. In animals with complex brains, this process can involve enormously complex neuronal circuits. Although large-scale morphological units for sensory motor integration are known, little is known about the precise neuronal circuits mediating sensory-motor integration in vertebrate species including humans. There are fish species known as 'weakly electric fish' that emit weak electrical signals into their surrounding environment and use them for navigation and communication. These fish provide models for the vertebrate brain in which relatively simple sensory and motor systems can be studied together, because rather precise sensory processes and their neuronal substrates are already known, and motor behaviors and their immediate controlling circuits are also now known. This project is aimed at understanding how individual behavioral acts are organized in the brain of a species of weakly electric fish. Electrophysiological and neuroanatomical techniques are used to investigate activity of nerve cells in the brain that are involved in well-defined electrical behaviors of the fish. Results will clarify the exact location, morphology and function of neurons that mediate specific behaviors. The expected results from the proposed study will have an impact on our understanding of both sensory and motor principles underlying behavioral organization within the brain. The project also involves work spanning the scales from subcellular to behavioral, and so provides valuable training for graduate and undergraduate students.