Goodwin Lab ~ Sensorimotor Systems: Unravelling the Codes

Principal investigator: Tony Goodwin

• Hand function
• Whisker system
• Collaborations
• Study and research
• Publications
• Contact us

Introduction

Sensorimotor control relies on rich and complex sensory feedback. A prime example is hand function where the dexterous movements made by us, when we grasp and manipulate objects, is not possible without the sensory signals relayed from receptors in the hand and the muscles that move the fingers and hand.

Our focus is on understanding how complex information is encoded in populations of sensory neurons. We have concentrated on hand function using the following approach. In psychophysical experiments we measure human performance during actual or simulated complex manipulations. This provides us with information on the nature of the sensory feedback, including the parameters that must be signalled and the resolution in the sensory neural population. Responses recorded from single sensory neurons are used to reconstruct or simulate whole populations of sensory neurons. Comparison of the population response with the human behaviour allows the generation and testing of hypotheses about the neural coding.

The rat's whisker system has many analogies to hand function. The sensory receptors innervating the whisker pads relay complex information that enables a rat to navigate effectively even in dark and tortuous spaces. Behavioural or psychophysical experiments determine the rat's sensory capacities. Neural population responses, reconstructed from the responses of single neurons, can be analysed to reveal the nature of sensory encoding.

Hand function, even for a simple task such as this,
is dependent on the integration of highly complex sensory signals.

Recording electrodes are positioned at precisely defined
brain coordinates using a stereotaxic frame.

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Contact details:

Professor Tony Goodwin - Head of Department
Phone: 61-3-8344 5804
Fax: 61-3-9347 5219
Email: a.goodwin@unimelb.edu.au