Neural integration of electrocommunication signals encoded in parallel sensory processing streams.

多感官整合将不同感官提供的信息连接成一个统一的感知。在信息冲突的情况下，它可能会导致感知转移，如腹语错觉。然而，将来自多个感官的一致信息结合起来，通常会通过减少反应时间或改善刺激检测来改善行为表现。通常，这种集成是贝叶斯最优的，也就是说，信息通道根据其各自的可靠性进行加权。在神经元水平上，增加的反应性、减少的反应延迟和改善的相位锁定被描述为多感觉整合的效果。来自多个渠道的信息如何整合已经在许多研究中进行了调查。数学和现象学模型已经被开发出来，以理解指导原则。然而，我们对这些计算原理背后的生理过程的理解仍然很薄弱。特别是，电生理数据允许调查的阈下机制是失踪。我们将在弱电鱼类Eigenmannia virescens的电通信信号编码的背景下解决理论和生理学之间的差距。在Eigenmannia中，通信信号，称为啁啾，是鱼自己的电器官放电的调制，刺激三个平行的电感觉通路。最初，信息是单独处理的，但最终在中脑的圆枕（TS）中结合起来，这是哺乳动物下丘的硬骨鱼同源物。我们先前对电感受器水平的分析表明，啁啾检测应该通过结合来自平行通路的信息来改进。通过在体内细胞内记录的神经元在平行通道在后脑和整合和非整合的神经元在TS中，我们将收集所需的数据的前和突触后活动，以分析在阈下制度的整合机制。与拟议的研究，我们的目标是在开放的问题，在整合和非整合神经元的后脑和中脑的电通信信号的编码。基于所获得的数据，我们将分析阈下机制参与整合过程中的多通道神经元在TS。这些将在多感觉整合的已知理论的背景下进行解释。

Multisensory integration joins information provided by different senses into a unified percept. In situations of conflicting information it may lead to perceptional shifts such as the ventriloquist illusion. Combining congruent information from multiple senses, however, often improves behavioral performances by reduced reaction times or improved stimulus detection. Often, this integration is Bayes-optimal, that is, information channels are weighted according to their respective reliability. On the neuronal level, increased responsiveness, reduced response latencies, and improved phase locking have been described as effects of multisensory integration. How information from multiple channels is integrated has been investigated in a multitude of studies. Mathematical as well as phenomenological models have been developed to understand the guiding principles. However, our understanding of the physiolgical processes underlying these computational principles is still weak. In particular, electrophysiological data allowing to investigate the subthreshold mechanisms are missing. We will address this gap between theory and physiology in the context of the encoding of electrocommunication signals in the weakly electric fish Eigenmannia virescens. In Eigenmannia, communication signals, called chirps, are modulations of the fish's own electric organ discharge which stimulates three parallel electrosensory pathways. Initially, information is processed separately, but is eventually joined in the torus semicircularis (TS) of the midbrain, the teleost homolog to the mammalian inferior colliculus. Our previous analyses on the level of the electroreceptors suggest that chirp detection should be improved by combining information from the parallel pathways. By means of in vivo intracellular recordings of neurons in the parallel channels in the hindbrain and of integrating and non-integrating neurons in the TS we will gather the required data of pre- and postsynaptic activity to analyze the mechanism of integration in the subthreshold regime. With the proposed study we aim at open questions regarding the encoding of electrocommunication signals in integrating and non-integrating neurons in the hind- and midbrain. Based on the acquired data we will analyze the subthreshold mechansims involved in the integration processes in multichannel neurons in the TS. These will be interpreted in the context of the known theories of multisensory integration.