Adaptation is a common principle that recurs throughout the nervous system at all stages of
processing. This principle manifests in a variety of phenomena, from spike frequency …

How envelopes are processed in the electrosensory system and how this gives rise to
behavioral responses has been the focus of extensive research. This chapter provides a …

Growing evidence suggests that sensory neurons achieve optimal encoding by matching
their tuning properties to the natural stimulus statistics. However, the underlying …

Understanding the mechanisms by which neuronal population activity gives rise to
perception and behavior remains a central question in systems neuroscience. Such …

Glass knifefish (Eigenmannia) are a group of weakly electric fishes found throughout the
Amazon basin. Their electric organ discharges (EODs) are energetically costly adaptations …

This chapter focuses on reviewing findings that have shed significance on how serotonergic
input modulates the processing of incoming information by sensory neurons. In particular …

Organisms must constantly adapt to changes in their environment to survive. It is thought that
neuromodulators such as serotonin enable sensory neurons to better process input …

Active sensory systems have evolved to properly encode natural stimuli including those
created by conspecifics, yet little is known about the properties of such stimuli. We consider …

Localizing the source of a signal is often as important as deciphering the signal's message.
Localization mechanisms must cope with the challenges of representing the spatial …

In this dissertation, I examine how an animal's nervous system encodes spatially realistic
conspecific signals in their environment and how the encoding mechanisms support …