Like many other nocturnal arthropods, the amblypygid Phrynus pseudoparvulus is capable of homing. The environment through which these predators navigate is a dense and heterogeneous tropical forest understory and the mechanism(s) underlying their putatively complex navigational abilities are presently unknown. This study explores the sensory inputs that might facilitate nocturnal navigation in ...

In a recent study, Lomber, Meredith, and Kral (2010) investigated crossmodal reorganization in congenitally deaf cats. They demonstrated that specific regions of the auditory cortex are responsible for distinct supranormal visual performances following early auditory deprivation. These exciting results are considered in light of recently increasing research suggesting that crossmodal plasticity...

Complex structured environments offer fish advantages as places of refuge and areas of greater potential prey densities, but maneuvering through these environments is a navigational challenge. To successfully navigate complex habitats, fish must have sensory input relaying information about the proximity and size of obstacles. We investigated the role of the pectoral fins as mechanosensors in b...

Like many other nocturnal arthropods, the amblypygid Phrynus pseudoparvulus is capable of homing. The environment through which these predators navigate is a dense and heterogeneous tropical forest understory and the mechanism(s) underlying their putatively complex navigational abilities are presently unknown. This study explores the sensory inputs that might facilitate nocturnal navigation in ...

The normal development of sensory perception in mammals depends on appropriate sensory experience between birth and maturity. Numerous reports have shown that trimming some or all of the large mystacial vibrissa (whiskers) on one side of the face after birth has a detrimental effect on the maturation of cortical function. The objective of the present study was to understand the differences that...

BACKGROUND Sensory deprivation induces dramatic morphological and neurochemical changes in the olfactory bulb (OB) that are largely restricted to glomerular and granule layer interneurons. Mitral cells, pyramidal-like neurons, are resistant to sensory-deprivation-induced changes and are associated with the precursor to brain-derived neurotrophic factor (proBDNF); here, we investigate its unknow...

In rats, whisker trimming during development leads to persistent alterations in the function of cortical barrel circuits and to behavioral deficits later in life. Here we examined how whisker trimming begun either at birth (P0) or on postnatal day 12 (P12), around the onset of whisking behavior, affects receptive fields of layer IV barrel neurons. All whiskers on the left face were trimmed for ...