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Sensory and Evolutionary Neuroscience

Nervous systems evolved to control behavior. A primary function of nervous systems is to receive and process information from the outside world, and then act on that information in ways that maximize survival and reproduction. We use an integrative approach to study animal communication and the evolution of sensory processing, using weakly electric fishes as a model system. Our work is unique in its application of detailed neurophysiology within a comparative behavioral framework, and it has implications for our understanding of neural mechanisms for behavior as well as the evolution of behavioral diversity. We employ a wide range of techniques, including in vivo and in vitro electrophysiology, anatomy and histology, neuronal imaging, computational modeling, behavioral observation and playback, molecular phylogenetics, population genetics, and field work.

Latest Lab News

Electric fish ignore their own zaps with a cool trick (Links to an external site)

August 25, 2020

African fish called mormyrids communicate using pulses of electricity. To distinguish their own signal from those of neighboring fish, their brains inhibit sensory responses using a corollary discharge, which is an internal copy of their own motor command.

How Electric Fish Use Zeroed-out Zaps To Chat (Links to an external site)

August 13, 2020

Carlson and Matasaburo Fukutomi, a postdoctoral fellow in his laboratory, published their new research on African mormyrid weakly electric fish in the Journal of Neuroscience. A brief, well-defined period of inhibition keeps electric fish from missing out on other important external signals, Carlson said.

Zeroing out their own zap: Time-shifted inhibition helps electric fish ignore their own signals (Links to an external site)

August 12, 2020

Electric fish generate electric pulses to communicate with other fish and sense their surroundings. Some species broadcast shorter electric pulses, while others send out long ones. But all that zip-zapping in the water can get confusing. The fish need to filter out their own pulses so they can identify external messages and only respond to those signals.