Neuronal Organization for Electromotor Behaviors

在大脑中，感觉-运动整合的过程产生行为输出，这些输出是感觉计算和运动命令协调的结果。在大脑复杂的动物中，这一过程可能涉及极其复杂的神经元电路。虽然大规模的感觉运动整合的形态单位是已知的，但对包括人类在内的脊椎动物中调节感觉运动整合的精确神经元回路却知之甚少。有一种鱼被称为“弱电鱼”，它们向周围环境发射微弱的电信号，并利用它们进行导航和通信。这些鱼为脊椎动物的大脑提供了模型，在那里可以同时研究相对简单的感觉和运动系统，因为已经知道了相当精确的感觉过程及其神经基础，运动行为及其直接控制电路现在也是已知的。这个项目旨在了解个体行为是如何在一种弱电鱼类的大脑中组织起来的。电生理学和神经解剖学技术被用来研究大脑中与鱼明确定义的电行为有关的神经细胞的活动。研究结果将阐明调节特定行为的神经元的确切位置、形态和功能。这项拟议研究的预期结果将对我们理解大脑中潜在的行为组织的感觉和运动原理产生影响。该项目还涉及从亚细胞到行为的各个层面的工作，因此为研究生和本科生提供了有价值的培训。

In the brain, the process of sensory-motor integration produces behavioral outputs that are generated as a result of sensory computation and orchestration of motor commands. In animals with complex brains, this process can involve enormously complex neuronal circuits. Although large-scale morphological units for sensory motor integration are known, little is known about the precise neuronal circuits mediating sensory-motor integration in vertebrate species including humans. There are fish species known as 'weakly electric fish' that emit weak electrical signals into their surrounding environment and use them for navigation and communication. These fish provide models for the vertebrate brain in which relatively simple sensory and motor systems can be studied together, because rather precise sensory processes and their neuronal substrates are already known, and motor behaviors and their immediate controlling circuits are also now known. This project is aimed at understanding how individual behavioral acts are organized in the brain of a species of weakly electric fish. Electrophysiological and neuroanatomical techniques are used to investigate activity of nerve cells in the brain that are involved in well-defined electrical behaviors of the fish. Results will clarify the exact location, morphology and function of neurons that mediate specific behaviors. The expected results from the proposed study will have an impact on our understanding of both sensory and motor principles underlying behavioral organization within the brain. The project also involves work spanning the scales from subcellular to behavioral, and so provides valuable training for graduate and undergraduate students.