Professor Gary Muir
Research Area: The Neural Basis of Navigation
My research program is guided primarily by questions about the neural mechanisms of spatial cogniton and navigation. The firing activity of certain neurons is thought to represent the animal’s perceived location (“place” cells) and head direction (“head direction” cells), but how is information contained in the firing activity of these cells used by the animal when solving a spatial task? How does this neural activity relate to the animal’s navigational behavior? I am also particularly interested in how learning a spatial task may alter the firing activity of these cells to represent the animal’s newly acquired knowledge. To answer these questions, we have the wonderful opportunity to observe a “behaving” brain in action by recording the activity of single neurons while freely-moving rats perform spatial tasks.