We are interested in how sensory systems work. In particular, we want to understand how brain dynamics and behaviour determine how animals acquire information about the world.

We focus on electric sensing in weakly electric fish. These fish generate a high-frequency electric field with clock-like timing precision. Perturbations of this field due to the environment provide the information these fish use for prey capture, exploration, and communication in the dark. What is the nature of this electrosensory world? What sensory information can fish extract from electric field perturbations? How do the dynamics of electric field generation and acrobatic swimming movements influence sensing? Answering these questions will provide a window into a unique sensory world. But further, it will help us understand how sensory systems adapt to extreme environments, as well as the roles of bioelectric fields in general, such as those generated by our own brains and recorded as the EEG.

Our studies are multidisciplinary, using techniques ranging from cellular electrophysiology to computational modeling and quantitative behavioural analyses.