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Dr. Todd W. Troyer
Biology Deparment
University of Texas at San Antonio
1 UTSA Circle
San Antonio, Texas 78249
Neural and Behavioral Dynamics
My lab's research focuses on understanding the neural mechanisms
subserving complex temporal behavior. Research activity is centered
around two major
projects:
Behavioral analysis and computational modeling of vocal development
in songbirds.
The combination of a learned, stereotyped behavior and specialized
anatomy make birdsong an ideal system in which to study the neural basis
of complex behavior. However, much work will be required to bridge the
gap between the functional anatomy of the song system and song behavior.
A crucial component in building this bridge will be to gain a better understanding
of the acoustic signals produced during vocal learning. Therefore, one
goal of the lab is to collect and analyze a large database of song collected
from juvenile birds. A second goal is to work on building the bridge directly,
by constructing computational models of song learning.
Neural encoding and dynamical processing in models of neural circuits.
Computational models serve as important analogies for how to think
about the biological mechanisms subserving complex neural processing. However,
most models are dominated by a single time scale, whereas a range of time
scales are likely to influence information processing in neural circuits.
A second focus of the lab is to use theory and modeling to hone our intuitions
about temporal coding. One aspect of this work focuses on understanding
the temporal response properties of simplified integrate-and-fire neurons.
More general investigation will explore the possibility that neural circuits
use interacting encoding schemes operating on different time scales to
multiplex information.
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