Is "sensory cortex" just sensory? Investigation by large-scale electrophysiology

A fundamental question in sensory neuroscience is what information sensory neurons convey during natural behaviour ('sensory coding'). Neuroscience textbooks describe in detail how the cortex is parcelled up into 'sensory' and 'motor' regions. However, new studies have challenged this dogma by showing that the activity of neurons in areas of the cerebral cortex classically considered to be purely sensory actually depend on an animal's motor state (eg running speed or whisker movement). The full extent and significance of these findings remains, however, unclear.

The aim of this project is to use exciting new methods (large-scale electrophysiological recording, behaviour imaging, machine learning) to investigate this general issue. Specifically, we will test between competing hypotheses for how motor state influences the activity of neurons in sensory cortex. This will be done by recording the activity of neurons in the somatosensory cortex using state-of-the-art Neuropixels probes.

This project will suit motivated students with a passion for neuroscience. Students might come either a biology/neuroscience background or from a physical sciences background. The successful student will have the opportunity to investigate this question using in vivo electrophysiology and behavioural analysis. They will also have the chance to learn to analyse the data by means of machine learning methods.