Sensorimotor integration

Social interactions across animal species are governed by the interplay between multimodal sensory information and the internal states of each animal. Here, we investigate this interplay in female Drosophila (fruit fly) as she engages with the male during courtship, a highly dynamic social behavior. Previous work has shown that the male fly's courtship song is shaped by the subtle feedback cues from the female and is influenced by his internal states1,2. However, in the case of females, prior work has focused only on predicting her walking speed averaged over minutes3,4; her fast timescale res

Axial proprioceptive sensory feedback plays a crucial role in modulating locomotion, enabling vertebrates to dynamically adjust motor output in response to body movements and environmental forces. In this study, we present a spiking neuromechanical model of the zebrafish, focusing on how proprioceptive signals from Piezo2-expressing neurons modulate the activity of the spinal cord's central pattern generator (CPG) network, thus regulating the locomotor output. A spiking neural network comprising the main classes of interneurons in the zebrafish locomotor circuits, namely V2a, V0d and motoneur

Speech impairment is reported among 70% of the Parkinson’s disease (PD) population, deeply impacting individual quality of life and social costs. Because of the lack of efficacy of pharmacological and DBS treatments, we developed an experimental protocol based on the Lee Silverman Voice Therapy (LSVT) and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to study the role that such treatments have on electroencephalographic (EEG) oscillations. We enrolled 10 PD patients affected by speech disorders who underwent the 1-month LSVT protocol coupled with tDCS over the right Superior Temporal Gyrus (r

…play a role in behaviors that require sensorimotor integration including discrimination, avoidance and defense​ responses. The output neurons of the striatum, the D1 and D2 striatal projection neurons (SPNs) that make up the direct and indirect pathways, respectively, are thought to play differential roles in these behavioral responses, although it remains unclear if or how these neurons display differential responsivity to sensory stimuli. Here, we use whole cell membra

Individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD) feature reduced walking speed. However, the relationship between walking speed and different task conditions remains unclear. This study aims to investigate walking speed in single and dual-task conditions among individuals with PD. This cross-sectional study analyzes baseline data from a controlled clinical trial developed at “Reference Center for Aging and Movement” (CREM) in Brazil. A total of 15 subjects, 67.1±8.1 years, 9 men, recruited through community advertisements, and diagnosed with PD scoring 1 to 3 on the Hoehn and Yahr (1967) scale. Parti

Virtual reality (VR) technologies allow to reproduce the working process. Forming the correct dynamics, personification of training and quality control can be solved using the haptic technology. We hypothesized that the use of haptic stimulation technology in combination with VR simulation of a working process will increase the efficiency of learning. Our aim was to investigate the effects of haptic electrical stimulation on motor learning and corresponding brain activity. The learning was carried out in a VR simulator with a full-body haptic suit (Teslasuit, https://teslasuit.io) to reinforce

The Superior Colliculus (SC) is a highly conserved midbrain organ implicated in sensorimotor integration. Pitx2on neurons are a recently identified population of glutamatergic neurons in the intermediate SC, whose activation leads to spatially oriented head movements. Viral tracing of these output neurons revealed a plethora of input and output regions. Particularly, while Pitx2on neurons project to tecto-spinal systems, traditionally associated with the control of head and eye movements, they also target the mesocorticolimbic system, suggesting a possible role of these neurons going beyond mo

…We probed this dichotomy in sensorimotor integration by introducing uncertainty about the grasp type during movement preparation within the context of motor planning. An inverted T-shaped instrumented manipulandum was presented to 24 participants, and they were asked to reach, grasp, and lift it while minimising the peak roll. On certain catch tri

Performing goal-directed behaviors in an uncertain environment requires organisms to continuously evaluate the sensory consequences of their motor actions and fine-tune them to ultimately reach the goal. This evaluation involves a comparison between the predicted and actual sensory change following a movement and implementing corrective movements if there is a mismatch between the two. However, details about the neural implementation of this comparison and correction are unclear. We study this paradigm in larval zebrafish using a virtual reality setup. We first “train” the fish such that they

…physiological activities such as sensorimotor integration and memory consolidation. The primary goal is to unravel the intricate information transfer mechanism between the MS and the hippocampus during memory formation, with a particular focus on the involvement of MS neurons in both hippocampal theta wave and ripple generation.To achieve this goal, a patch-clamp methodology was used for in vivo recording of MS neuronal activity. This approach was designed

…model to study active sensing and sensorimotor integration through feedback loops. In this work, we developed a bioinspired spiking neural network model of the sensorimotor peripheral whisker system, modelling trigeminal ganglion, trigeminal nuclei, facial nuclei, and central pattern generator neuronal populations. This network was embedded in a virt