Sensory processing, perception and communication in simple nervous systems.

动物已经进化到能够探测到来自环境的信息并做出适当的反应。信息由感觉器官收集，并由神经系统进行处理，以产生行为决定。辨别动物如何在自然、嘈杂的条件下处理多种感觉输入，对于我们理解这一过程是如何跨物种工作的，以及对仿生技术的发展至关重要。我的重点是昆虫和蜘蛛感官引导行为中信息处理的神经机制。这些相对简单的模型为了解感觉系统的基本原理提供了重要的洞察力。苍蝇根据有限的感觉信息做出决定。这些苍蝇通过将幼虫寄生在蟋蟀身上进行繁殖，在那里它们作为寄生虫发育。雌性苍蝇能够在听到蟋蟀的歌声后利用它们。我研究了苍蝇是如何完成这项任务的。奥米亚的耳朵对音质上的大多数差异不敏感，只记录板球歌曲的位置。通过研究中枢神经系统(CNS)对板球歌曲时间变化的反应，我将确定使简单的神经系统能够根据有限的信息区分多个声源的原理。来自这些研究的基础科学数据支持开发基于奥米亚耳朵的微型麦克风的努力。我还研究了动物交流中的感觉处理。交流也涉及基于感官信息的行为决定，但在这种情况下，一种动物创造的信号已经进化成直接将信息传递给其他动物。我的研究考察了这一过程的所有阶段：信号是如何产生的；它们携带什么信息；它们如何在发送者和接收者之间传播；信息是如何被接收者检测和编码的。我在一系列蜘蛛和昆虫分类群中做这项工作。这种方法使我能够解决复杂的行为，特别是交流，以及神经系统的结构和功能如何与特定的行为能力和环境限制有关的问题。

Animals have evolved to detect and respond appropriately to information from their environment. Information is gathered by sensory organs and processed by the nervous system to result in behavioural decisions. Discerning how animals process multiple sensory inputs under natural, noisy conditions is essential to our understanding of how this process works across species, and to the development of biomimetic technologies. I focus on neural mechanisms of information processing in sensory-guided behaviour in insects and spiders. These relatively simple models have yielded important insight into basic principals underlying sensory systems.The fly Ormia ochracea makes decisions based on limited sensory information. These flies reproduce by depositing larvae on crickets where they develop as parasites. Female flies are able to exploit crickets when they hear and home in on their songs. I examine how the flies are able to accomplish this task. Ormia ears are insensitive to most differences in sound quality and register only the location of cricket songs. By studying how the central nervous system (CNS) responds to changes in the timing of cricket songs, I will identify principles that enable a simple nervous system to discriminate multiple sound sources on the basis of limited information. Basic-science data from these studies support efforts to develop miniature microphones based on Ormia ears.I also investigate sensory processing in animal communication. Communication also involves behavioural decisions based on sensory information, but in this case one animal creates signals that have evolved to directly transmit information to others. My research examines all stages in this process: how signals are generated; what information they carry; how they propagate between sender and receiver; how information is detected and encoded by the receiver. I do this work in a range of spider and insect taxa. This approach allows me to address how complex behaviours, particularly communication, evolve, and how the structure and function of the nervous system is related to specific behavioural capacities and environmental constraints.