Sensorimotor Integration in the Whisker System

by Patrik Krieger, Alexander Groh

Overview

Sensorimotor integration, the dynamic process by which the sensory and motor systems communicate with each other, is crucial to humans’ and animals’ ability to explore and react to their environment. This book summarizes the main aspects of our current understanding of sensorimotor integration in 10 chapters written by leading scientists in this active and ever-growing field. This volume focuses on the whisker system, which is an exquisite model to experimentally approach sensorimotor integration in the mammalian brain.

In this book, authors examine the whisker system on many different levels, ranging from the building blocks and neuronal circuits to sensorimotor behavior. Neuronal coding strategies, comparative analysis as well as robotics illustrate the multiple facets of this research and its broad impact on fundamental questions about the neurobiology of the mammalian brain.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781493944446
Publisher:	Springer New York
Publication date:	10/22/2016
Edition description:	Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 2015
Pages:	276
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.02(d)

About the Author

Patrik Krieger received his Ph.D. from Karolinska Institutet and then worked as a postdoctoral fellow with Bert Sakmann at the Max Planck Institute, Heidelberg. He is currently Head of the Department of Systems Neuroscience at the Ruhr-University Bochum. His research spans over both sensory and motor systems aiming to provide an understanding of how both systems interact during sensory-guided behavior. This research is done using a combination of electrophysiology and behavioural experiments where the activity of genetically labeled cell types has been modified to reveal the cell type specific contributions to sensorimotor integration. Furthermore, his research includes studies on the impact of sensory deprivation and cortical plasticity on tactile information processing. In addition he works on developing analytical tools for quantitative analysis of neuroanatomy.

Alexander Groh received his Ph.D. from the University of Heidelberg and worked as a postdoctoral fellow with Bert Sakmann at the Technische Universität München. His research focuses on the thalamocortical system, which he studies to understand cognitive functions, in particular sensory and motor processing. He is specifically interested in cortical feedback connections to the thalamus, and their role in controlling the flow of information through thalamocortical circuits. After characterizing the synaptic physiology and adaptation of corticothalamic "driver" pathways in the rat whisker system, he applied cell-type specific approaches to characterize the impact of cortical feedback pathways on sensory processing the thalamocortical system. He currently develops methods to explore the functions of corticothalamic interactions in behavior.

Table of Contents

1.         Introduction

            Alexander Groh and Patrik Krieger

Part I: Whisker System in Mammals

2.         Comparative Studies of Somatosensory Systems and Active Sensing

            Kenneth C. Catania and Elizabeth H. Catania

Part II: Building Blocks of the Whisker System

3.         The Whisker Thalamus

            Manuel Castro-Alamancos

4.         Synaptic Microcircuits in the Barrel Cortex

            Dirk Feldmeyer, Gabriele Radnikow, and Quanxiao Qi

5.         Imaging the Cortical Representation of Active Sensing in the Vibrissa System

            Fritjof Helmchen and Jerry L. Chen

6.         The Rodent Vibrissal System as a Model to Study Motor Cortex Function

            Cornelius Schwarz and Shubhodeep Chakrabarti

7.         The Central Pattern Generator for Rhythmic Whisking

            David Kleinfeld, Martin Deschênes, and Jeffrey D. Moore

Part III: Computations of the Whisker System

8.         Functional principles of Whisker-mediated Touch Perception

            Miguel Maravall and Mathew E. Diamond

9.         Location Coding by the Whisking System

            Tess Baker Oram, Eldad Assa, Per Magne Knutsen, and Ehud Ahissar

10.       The Robot Vibrissal System: Understanding Mammalian Sensorimotor Co-ordination through Biomimetics

            Tony J. Prescott, Ben Mitchinson, Nathan Lepora, Stuard P. Wilson, Sean R. Anderson, John Porill, Paul Dean, Charles Fox, Martin J. Pearson, J. Charles Sullivan, and A. G. Pipe

Part IV: Development of the Whisker System

11.       Impact of Monoaminergic Neuromodulators on the Development of Sensorimotor Circuits

            Dirk Schubert, Nael

Nadif Kasri, Tansu Celikel, and Judith Homberg