Research

Neuronal representations of space and time are of fundamental importance for cognition and behavior –  from localizing prey by auditory cues and visually detecting moving objects to the planning and neuronal control of future movements. Goal-directed self-motion relies on continually evaluating changing sensory inputs in real time and taking previously stored information into account to generate spatially coordinated and appropriately timed motor actions. Our brain solves these challenging computational tasks with apparent ease, using intricate feedback circuits in distributed neural circuits whose functional architecture adapts in time. Pathologies of visuomotor control and age-related navigation deficits reveal that the underlying processes hang in a delicate balance; limitations and failures of current technical applications demonstrate that we have only rather restricted insight into some of the most basic functions of nervous systems.

Yet, in recent years, there have been numerous exciting new discoveries about neuronal representations of space-time, as also shown by many publications from BCCN Munich.

Research projects at Bernstein Center Munich cover and connect:

• experiment, data analysis, modeling and theoretical approaches
• neurobiology, clinical neuroscience, biomathematics, physics, computer science, and engineering
• computational modeling on various levels; compartmental models of dendritic trees (Borst), simplified single-neuron models (Benda, Herz), networks of spiking neurons (van Hemmen, Hemmert, Leibold), and models at the systems level (Glasauer)
• investigations on auditory (Benda, Grothe, Hemmert, van Hemmen, Herz, Leibold, Luksch), electrosensory (Benda), vestibular (Brandt, Büttner, Glasauer), and visual information processing (Borst, Buss, Gollisch, van Hemmen, Kühnlenz, Luksch)
• in-vitro recordings (Gollisch, Grothe, Luksch), in-vivo recordings (Benda, Borst, Büttner, Grothe, Herz) as well as psychophysics and fMRI (Brandt, Glasauer)
• studies in different neuronal structures: brain stem (Grothe, Luksch), cortex (Brandt, Büttner, Glasauer, Grothe, van Hemmen, Luksch), as well as insect receptor neurons (Benda, Herz) and interneurons (Borst, Gollisch)
• scientists from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU), Technische Universität München (TUM), Max-Planck-Institute of Neurobiology (MPI), and Infineon