Sensory Motor Integration in the Cerebello-Cortical System – SMIC
Sensory Motor Integration in the Cerebello-Cortical System
Motor plans in the brain are continuously updated by incoming sensory information. This process of sensorymotor integration is still poorly understood. The present project aims at unraveling how incoming sensory<br />information is filtered and fed in the motor cortex. For this purpose we focus on two major afferent structures of the motor cortex which form functional loops with this cortical area: the primary sensory cortex and the cerebellum.
Sensorimotor integration in the cerebello-cortical loop
The main objective of our project is to understand how sensory information is shaped before being sent to the motor cortex. To study this, we will focus on the system of the rat and mouse whiskers. In this system, we will analyze how the cerebellum contributes to shape the neuronal activity, what features of the sensory inputs are extracted in multiple areas by neurons projecting to the motor cortex and how the sensory circuits are recruited during motor adaptation to the environment. We hypothesize that the guidance of the motor system<br />requires the extraction of singularities: extraction of either salient or unexpected stimuli; we will search traces of such computations during active palpation/whisking.
Our project combines electrophysiological recordings, two photon
imaging, optogenetic approaches and sophisticated analysis procedures to examine the sensory feature extraction taking place in these two structures (and in the thalamic relays that link the cerebellum to the
cortex), and to examine the recruitment of this network when motor adjustments take place in the course of
unexpected sensory stimulations.
A first manuscript has been submitted on the functional organisation of the circuit that links the cerebellum, the sensory and the motor cortices.
This project should bring new insights on sensory-motor integration and
guide efforts to provide artificial sensory feedback to brain-driven rosthetic devices.
1 communication at the Gordon Research Conference on Cerebellum
Motor plans in the brain are continuously updated by incoming sensory information. This process of sensory-motor integration is still poorly understood. The present project aims at unraveling how incoming sensory information is filtered and fed in the motor cortex. For this purpose we focus on two major afferent structures of the motor cortex: the primary sensory cortex and the cerebellum. We propose to study the role of these structures in the control of the whisker movements, a system used for active tactile exploration in mice and rats. We hypothesize that these structures exert distinct, but complementary roles in filtering information, the sensory cortex and the cerebellum having the ability to distinguish respectively edges of objects (local contrasts) and unexpected sensory inputs. Our project combines electrophysiological recordings, two photon imaging, optogenetic approaches and sophisticated analysis procedures to examine the sensory feature extraction taking place in these two structures (and in the thalamic relays that link the cerebellum to the cortex), and to examine the recruitment of this network when motor adjustments take place in the course of unexpected sensory stimulations. This project should bring new insights on sensory-motor integration and guide efforts to provide artificial sensory feedback to brain-driven prosthetic devices.
Project coordination
Clément Léna (Institut de Biologie de l'ENS) – lena@biologie.ens.fr
The author of this summary is the project coordinator, who is responsible for the content of this summary. The ANR declines any responsibility as for its contents.
Partner
IBENS Institut de Biologie de l'ENS
IBENS Institut de Biologie de l'ENS
Help of the ANR 450,000 euros
Beginning and duration of the scientific project:
February 2013
- 36 Months
