Computational Neuroscience Commons^™

Collaborative Research: A Dynamic Atlas Of The Cricket Cercal Sensory System, Sharon M. Crook

University of Maine Office of Research Administration: Grant Reports

A fundamental question in neuroscience is how natural sensory stimuli are encoded for information handling by the brain. Invertebrate animals often offer systems that are in some ways simpler than those of mammals, and including such features as identifiable single cells in networks of relatively few numbers. This collaborative project exploits a sensory system called the cercal system of the cricket, in which small appendages on the rear of the body contain fine hairs that are used to detect, identify and localize behaviorally relevant air current movements, such as those produced by a predator. The input from roughly 2000 receptor …