NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2021: Linking biomechanics to neurobiology: how coordinated bird flight emerges from visual motion processing

Lapsansky, Anthony B, Missoula MT

Investigators

Abstract

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2021, Integrative Research Investigating the Rules of Life Governing Interactions Between Genomes, Environment and Phenotypes. The fellowship supports research and training of the Fellow that will contribute to the area of Rules of Life in innovative ways. How the brain interprets visual information to guide safe movement through the environment is one of the great outstanding questions in biology. Understanding this process will help direct the design of safer self-driving cars. Using bird flight as a model system, this research will uncover fundamental principles for the control of movement around obstacles and in coordination with other individuals. Birds are among the most maneuverable animals and rely on visual information to guide their movement; as do humans and self-driving cars. This research will determine how bird flight emerges through processing in the brain using real-world visual stimuli. Data describing bird flight and coordination will be collected in collaboration with students from the Lummi Nation. Thus, this project will provide Native American students – the least represented group in STEM – with hands-on, geographically relevant, exposure to science. Typically, visual processing is studied by exposing animal subjects to simple patterns in laboratory settings. Though these methods allow for tight regulation of experimental designs, simple patterns lack many features of visual stimuli provided by natural conditions. This dramatically limits our insight into how animal behaviors emerge through the processing of visual information. With training in visual neuroscience from two renowned experts in the field, the Fellow will build upon their experience in biomechanics to connect animal behavior to visual neurobiology. Research will determine how the natural statistics of visual stimuli experienced by free-flying pigeons differ across flight contexts using a paired, head-mounted camera system. Animals will also be equipped with GPS-trackers and accelerometers, such that context-specific visual stimuli can be linked to instantaneous kinematics and trajectories of pigeons. Finally, exposing pigeons to visual stimuli while using electrophysiology to study brain activity will uncover how features of natural visual stimuli are encoded in the activity patterns of visual-motion neurons. This research will thereby bridge the gaps between the information provided to the sensory system, processing, individual motor responses, and coordinated group movement, while providing the Fellow with advanced training in neuroscience. Data for this project will be collected in collaboration with Native American students to facilitate and encourage them to pursue advanced degrees in STEM. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.