Sensory-motor integration in Gnathonemus petersii - WCUB, ENWW

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The relationship between sensory and motor systems is fundamental to understanding animal behaviour. Sensory systems inform an animal on how it should behave in a given situation. In turn, an animal's own actions can sculpt the sensory information available. Both sensory and motor systems work to increase an animal's success (e.g. in terms of finding food, evading predators, or obtaining a mate). The weakly electric fish, Gnathonemus petersii, is an excellent model for studying this interaction. It possesses an electrosensory system which is associated with a number of motor actions thought to change the sensory flow present. I hope to unravel this interdependency by using techniques across a number of disciplines (e.g. mechanics, neuroscience, psychology and zoology). I believe that it is necessary to take an interdisciplinary approach in order to understand the interaction at all levels (from neurons to organisms as a whole). As such, this research falls into the BBSRC remit of 'Integrative Animal and Plant Biology' which aims to understand 'how biological processes function in an integrate and dynamic way within tissues and organisms' in the hopes of using these principles to solve problems being faced by the wider world.