Principles of sensory processing in the whisker system and barrel cortex

Our senses sample a huge stream of ongoing information from the world, and our brain chooses how to use this information to accomplish our goals.

A traditional view holds that the process of sensing our environment occurs separately from the process of choosing which actions to perform. But modern neuroscience experiments show that the brain constantly adjusts to the spatial and temporal patterns present in the environment, and predicts not just the sensory inputs that will come next but also their relevance to our goals. And contrary to the view that sensory processing occurs in isolation, the parts of our neocortex that process sensory inputs also respond to our own actions and plans, and to the outcomes of those actions. We don't just passively sense an objective world around us – we purposely construct the information we need to relate to the world.

Our research group investigates the computations that underlie these spectacular abilities of the brain. To do so, we mainly study the responses of neurons that process tactile information in mice. The whisker pathway of rodents is a key sensory system, used for exploring their surroundings and for detecting and identifying objects. We are interested in understanding neuronal responses in the context of an animal interacting with the world. To this end we invest lots of effort in studying mouse behaviours and, sometimes, comparing how mice and humans perform tasks, and we specialise in recording neuronal activity in awake animals. 

Our lab is within the School of Life Sciences and also belongs to the Sussex Neuroscience centre of excellence, which supports the vibrant community of neuroscience researchers at Sussex.

We are grateful for grant support from the UK Medical Research Council (MRC) and Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC).

We are always interested in speaking with outstanding candidates for independent postdoctoral fellowships.

Our lab offers funded PhD projects within the Sussex Neuroscience training programme.

Please contact Miguel Maravall if you would like to discuss these positions.