Jason Kerr (Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany)

The Bernstein Center Freiburg

Bernstein Seminar

Jason Kerr

Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics
Tübingen, Germany

 

Imaging activity in the freely moving animal: from the eye to the cortex

Abstract:
Motivation underlies the performance of self-determined behavior and is fundamental to decision making, especially with regard to seeking food, mates, and avoiding peril. As many decision making based behaviors in rodents involve a combination of head movements, vestibular driven eye movements, vestibular driven cortical activity and multimodal active sensing of the environment to guide their behavior, studying the freely moving animal is paramount. What is also necessary is the precise tracking of the animal’s movement and interaction with the environment. Here I will outline work from our group that focuses on how rodents use their vision while freely moving and how this this translates to cortical activity. I will introduce methods that allow accurate recording of neuronal activity from populations of cortical neurons, using multiphoton imaging techniques, while simultaneously tracking behavior, using eye and head tracking techniques, during decision making in the freely moving rodent.

Host: Marlene Bartos