Research Areas

Living organisms make decisions and movements according to the perception they form upon receiving environmental cues. For example, they will proceed toward an odor source if they perceive attractive smells of food but draw away if they perceive repulsive smells of rotten food or predators. Different sensory stimuli evoke different patterns of neural activity and hence different perception, but the neural basis of sensory perception remains largely elusive. Our goal is to better understand how external stimuli are encoded in the sensory nervous system and how they are processed by downstream neurons that ultimately form perception.

We use the fruit fly Drosophila as a model organism which is equipped with various advantages. Due to the relatively small number of central neurons, many neurons in the fly brain are identifiable and accessible. We can monitor the responses of these neurons to sensory stimuli by in vivo electrophysiology and imaging. Various genetic tools are available for not only labeling but also manipulating neurons. On the other hand, it is possible to monitor the behavior of individual flies with high spatiotemporal resolution, which helps us read out the animal's perception. Therefore, we have an opportunity to systematically understand the relationship between neural activity and behavior. We further aim to understand the neural mechanisms of sensory perception at synaptic, cellular, and circuit levels.

Research Subject

1. Correlative/causal relationship between neural activity and perception
2. Synaptic, cellular, and circuit mechanisms of signal processing
3. Computational model of sensory processing

Related links

1. RIKEN Brain Science Institute Website_Laboratories Page
2. Individual Website Laboratory Page