RUI: Sensorimotor Transformations in the Withdrawal Reflex

这个项目的目的是了解感觉刺激的位置如何与大鼠尾部退缩反射中引起的反射运动方向相关。以前的研究表明，运动是直接远离刺激，而其他人提出的反应是相对独立的感官刺激的位置。将向大鼠尾巴的不同部位提供简短的精确刺激，并使用力传感器记录反射性退缩反应的方向和幅度。还将传递多个刺激以确定两个反应的中央处理如何相互作用。这些研究将通过建立教师学者奖学金机会，大大加强对本科生和未来教师的培训。这些研究的实际结果将允许评估上述两个备选假设，并更普遍地提供关于中枢神经系统如何处理感觉信息的信息。这些信息对于更好地设计人工机器人系统以避免干扰和理解神经系统转换感觉信息的基本规则可能是重要的。

Sensorimotor Transformations in the Withdrawal ReflexThe goal of this project is to understand how the location of a sensory stimulus relates to the direction of reflex movement that it evokes in the tail withdrawal reflex of the rat. Previous studies have suggested the movement is directed away from the stimulus, while others propose that the response is relatively independent of the location of sensory stimulus. Brief, pinpoint stimuli will be delivered to different parts of the rat tail and the direction and magnitude of the reflex withdrawal response will be recorded using force transducers. Multiple stimuli will also be delivered to determine how the central processing of the two responses interacts. These studies will greatly enhance training of undergraduates and future faculty by establishing a Teacher Scholar Fellowship opportunity. The actual results of these studies will allow evaluation of the two alternative hypotheses described above and more generally provide information on how the central nervous system processes sensory information. This information may be important for better designing artificial robot systems to avoid disturbances and understanding the basic rules by which the nervous system transforms sensory information.