Information coding in neurons: bridging the gap between cellular and behavioral neuroscience

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OBJECTIVE: The long-term objective of our laboratory's research program is to link the activity of neurons in the brain to our higher-level perceptual experiences. To understand how neuronal activity is linked to our perception of the external world, we need to know the rules neurons use to encode information in their action potential (or spike) output.  This is usually referred to as understanding the "neural code". APPROACH: Our laboratory studies the neural code at two levels.  In the first, we use electrophysiological recordings from the visual cortex to link neuronal activity to visual capabilities.  The second level of investigation addresses the cellular mechanisms of spike integration and adaptation in single neurons.  The goal of this proposal is to reveal how single neurons integrate time-varying information in a way that can be applied to understanding the neural bases of visual perception. SPECIFIC AIMS: 1) Reveal how single neurons integrate and adapt to time-varying input signals using a systems-identification approach.  In vitro intracellular recordings and computational models will be used to discover how neurons extract and encode information in spike trains. 2) Determine how the cellular properties of integration and adaptation contribute to the neural code at the level of the behaving animal.  In vivo extracellular recordings will be used to bridge the gap between the cellular properties revealed in Aim 1 and the link between these cellular properties and behavior.   WHAT WE WILL LEARN: The results of this research will provide us with an understanding of how neurons process information, which is critical for understanding how the brain underlies our mental life and the basis of diseases that affect mental health.