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Christopher Moore, Ph.D.
Mitsui Career Development
Associate Professor of Neuroscience
Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences
Building: 46-2171
Lab: Moore Lab
Email: cimoore4@mit.edu
Mitsui Career Development
Associate Professor of Neuroscience
Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences
Building: 46-2171
Lab: Moore Lab
Email: cimoore4@mit.edu
The Moore laboratory is investigating the neural mechanisms of touch perception, and how rapid changes in neural organization (‘dynamics’) relate to rapid changes in perceptual function. To make the link between perception and neural activity, the lab takes a multi-level approach. In humans, where detailed perceptual studies can be more readily conducted, they employ techniques such as event-related fMRI during psychophysical performance, to identify cortical areas relevant to tactile perception. In animal model systems, where detailed neural activity can be more readily investigated, they employ imaging (fMRI and optical imaging) and electrophysiology to examine organization at the level of the cortical column and neuron.
The lab is applying these techniques to related questions in three domains. A central theme of these projects is the study of frequency-dependent neural and perceptual somatosensory phenomena:
Tactile Motion Processing
Moving stimuli are among the most salient inputs in touch and vision, and
most tactile signal processing occurs in the context of motion across the skin (or the vibrissae/whiskers
on a rodent face). As one approach to understanding the context-dependent neural integration that
supports tactile motion perception, the lab is studying non-moving stimuli (e.g., patterns of vibration at
different points on the skin) that evoke tactile apparent motion (TAM) percepts.
Frequency-Specific Neural Dynamics
A central and often defining characteristic of tactile percepts are
the frequencies of stimulation that generate them. TAM is evoked by specific vibration frequencies, and
rodents and primates often sample tactile information (e.g., by sweeping their fingers or whiskers over a
surface) in a consistent and narrow frequency range. Studies in the Moore lab have shown that
stimulation in these frequency ranges transforms receptive field structure and columnar organization in
monkey and rat primary somatosensory cortex (SI), and influences the recruitment of distinct higher
cortical areas in the human. These findings suggest that frequency-specific neural dynamics are central
to tactile information processing (e.g., of tactile motion).
Transformation of Sensory Information by Vibrissae
The Moore lab has recently discovered that rat
vibrissae are ‘tuned,’ so that they resonate when stimulated at specific frequencies. As a result, a spatial,
somatotopic map of frequency-sensitivity is organized in the array of vibrissae across the rat face. This
finding provides a novel mechanism for the transduction of tactile information and suggests that
vibrotactile processing in the rodent parallels auditory processing (e.g., the spatial map of frequency
coding established by resonance in the cochlea). The lab is currently studying the consequences of
vibrissa resonance on neural encoding in the periphery and cortex.
An important longer-term goal of this work is to use a targeted multi-level approach to discover specific patterns of maladaptive somatosensory neural activity (e.g., aberrant dynamics in the regulation of receptive field tuning) that may contribute to human deficits in perceptual and cognitive function resulting from brain injury, illness and heritable or developmental disorders.
Moore, C. I., Nelson, S. B. & Sur, M. (1999) Dynamics of neuronal integration in rat somatosensory cortex TINS 22: 513-520.
Andermann, M.L. & Moore, C.I. (2006) A Somatotopic Map of Vibrissa Motion Direction Within a Barrel Column. Nature Neuroscience 9:543-551.
Moore, C. I. & Cao, R. (2007) The Hemo-Neural Hypothesis: On the Role of Blood Flow in Information Processing. Invited Review, J Neurophys.
Jones, S. R., Pritchett, D., Stufflebeam, S., Hamalainen, M. & Moore, C. I. (2007) Neural Correlates of Tactile Detection: A Combined MEG and Biophysically Based Computational Modeling Study. J Neurosci 27(40): 10751-64.
J. T. Ritt, M. L. Andermann, & C. I. Moore, (2008) "Emdodied information
processing: vibrissa mechanics and texture features shape micro-motions in actively sensing rats". Neuron 57:599-613.
