The general problem that we are trying to solve is understanding how the brain encodes information about the outside world through the electrical activity of neurons. This will ultimately enable us to control neural function, and thus augment or enhance brain function lost to trauma or disease.

Somatosensation. The second main thread of research is in how information related to touch is encoded in the somatosensory (touch) pathway of the brain. When you touch a surface, the mechanical deformation of your skin is transduced into electrical signals by mechanoreceptors embedded in the tissue. These signals then propagate through the brainstem to the thalamic body, which then sends projections to the primary somatosensory cortex on the surface of the brain. The features of the objects and textures are represented in the distributed electrical activity within various brain structures within this pathway, ultimately forming the substrate for the perceptual experiences that guide behavior. We work on various aspects of this problem that range from the basic problems of neural coding to clinical applications. Click on the links below for more details.

Overview, Spatiotemporal Encoding, Adaptation, Behavior, Trauma - Click for related publications

General Problems. Several of the problems we have worked on are neither specifically vision nor somatosensation, but instead are more general problems of the nervous system. For example, we have recorded the activity of ensembles of neurons in the hippocampus and entorhinal cortex during behavioral studies involving spatial navigation, where multiple sensory modalities are employed to guide the behavior. Another past project involved the development of control strategies for prosthetic devices. Finally, another past research avenue was that of autonomic nervous system control of the electrical activity of the heart. Click on the links below for more details.

Spatial Navigation, Prosthetics, Neural Control of Cardiac Function - Click for related publications