Multi-neuron recording system

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Information in the nervous system is carried by sequences of action potentials in populations of nerve cells. To understand how this information is processed, we need to record simultaneously the patterns of action potentials generated by the several members of a neuronal population. Until recently, this was not technically feasible, but advances over the past few years in methods for fabricating recording devices (electrodes) and in computer-based methods for analyzing electrophysiological recordings now make this possible. I am applying for funds to purchase the equipment necessary for me to use these new methods in my studies of sensory processing in an insect model system, hearing in crickets. We know a great deal about individual nerve cells in this system, which we have studied for many years with traditional, one-neuron-at-a-time techniques, but these previous studies have made it clear that to proceed further we must learn how populations of nerve cells respond to sound stimuli, and this requires that we record the electrical activity of several nerve cells at once. The requested equipment will allow us to collect data that will address a fundamental issue in neurobiology: how behaviorally relevant information is represented by populations of nerve cells.