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Circuits in the natural environment

Circuits in the natural environmentCircuits in the natural environmentCircuits in the natural environment

The University of Arizona, Department of Neuroscience


Circuits in the natural environment

Circuits in the natural environmentCircuits in the natural environmentCircuits in the natural environment

The University of Arizona, Department of Neuroscience


About the lab:

Principal Investigator

Principal Investigator

Principal Investigator

Dr. Mel Wohlgemuth came into science from a background as a naturalist.  As such, the lab's goal is to understand how the brain operates in the context of behaviors for interacting with the natural environment.

Scientific Questions

Principal Investigator

Principal Investigator

 We are interested in how the brain sorts through the cacophony of sensory signals to identify relevant stimuli.  Once sensory signals are processed, we study how this information used for adaptive behaviors, spatial attention, and goal directed action.  

Methodologies

Principal Investigator

Methodologies

 The lab will employ computational ethology alongside multi-channel wireless physiology, calcium imaging, and optogenetics to understand how circuits in the brain process sensory signals for the adaptive control of motor behaviors. 

Background

Natural Behaviors of the Echolocating Bat

Interconnected Bottom-up and Top-down Circuits

Interconnected Bottom-up and Top-down Circuits

A. The bat transitions through several discrete behavioral modes while hunting insects, transitioning from searching, to tracking, to finally intercepting the target.  Each behavioral mode is typified by stereotyped control of vocal behaviors.


B. The bat makes abrupt changes in the spectrotemporal features of its vocalizations between behavioral hunting modes. Within a modes, the bat adapts each vocalization based upon instantaneous sensory updates in the form of returning echoes.

Interconnected Bottom-up and Top-down Circuits

Interconnected Bottom-up and Top-down Circuits

Interconnected Bottom-up and Top-down Circuits

We will research a circuit anchored by the midbrain superior colliculus (SC).  The SC receives bottom-up afferents from the inferior colliculus (IC), and top-down afferents from auditory cortex (AC).  These afferent inputs arrive at different layers within the SC.  The SC projects to motor structures controlling head and ear motion (paralemniscal zone and pontine reticular formation), as well as centers for sonar vocal control (paralemniscal tegmental area).

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University of Arizona Batlab

University of Arizona, Department of Neuroscience, Tucson, AZ

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