Inner States
Decipher circuits and algorithm controlling exploration according to internal states
Exploration of the environment allows animals to identify the best conditions in their environment to feed, avoid predators and survive. Most animals at birth generate rudimentary, inflexible motor reflexes. While their nervous system develops, animals tune their exploration level based on their immediate need to feed and sleep. How the nervous system, while still being under construction, acquires the capability of adjusting exploration to its internal states remains largely unknown and will be the goal of this PhD project. We will build a comprehensive model of exploration based on inner physiological states.
Publications
- Sternberg J., Severi K., Fidelin K., Gomez J., Ihara H., Alcheikh Y., Hubbard J., Kawakami K., Suster M., Wyart C.# [2016]. Optimization of Botulinum toxin to probe the role of specific interneurons in innate locomotion. Current Biology, 26: 2319-28. DOI:10.1016/j.cub.2016.06.037.
