Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting Nov 7th, 2000
New Orleans
Board NN-47 Hall G-J 8:00AM session, 11:00AM presentation time
SFN ID: 2961
Session: Learning and Memory: Physiology-Synaptic Plasticity


467.20
NEURALLY-CONTROLLED COMPUTER-SIMULATED ANIMALS: A NEW TOOL FOR STUDYING LEARNING 
AND MEMORY IN VITRO
T. B. DeMarse, D. A. Wagenaar, A. W. Blau, and S. M. Potter*, 156-29 Div. of 
Biology, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91126

We have developed the first neurally-controlled animat (simulated animal).  It 
consists of a dissociated rat cortical culture in two-way communication with a 
computer via 60 electrodes embedded in the culture chamber substrate.  Spatio-
temporal patterns of activity in the culture are used to control the behavior of 
an animat situated within a computer-generated virtual reality.  Sensory inputs 
to the animat are fed back to the culture as spatio-temporal electrical stimulus 
patterns, in real time (<100 ms).  "Learning" is typically defined as a change 
in behavior resulting from experience.  By providing a cultured network with a 
body to behave with and an environment to behave in, it is now possible to view 
changes in network activity as learning.  Enduring changes can be interpreted as 
memories, and the detailed mechanisms subserving them can be studied with 
unprecedented detail in this new model system.  We are applying 2-photon time-
lapse fluorescence microscopy to observe morphological changes on the minutes-
to-hours time scale, and high-speed imaging with voltage-sensitive dyes to 
characterize activity patterns on the millisecond time scale.  The neurally-
controlled animat will help to bridge the gap between bottom-up (biochemical, 
cellular) and top-down (behavioral) approaches to the study of learning and 
memory.
http://www.caltech.edu/~pinelab/PotterGroup.htm
Supported by the NINDS, RO1-NS38628.