Massachusetts Institute of Technology - McGovern Institute for Brain Research - Moore Lab - Jason Ritt

Jason Ritt Burroughs Wellcome Fund CASI Postdoctoral Fellow
McGovern Institute for Brain Research MIT 46-2166 77 Massachusetts Ave Cambridge MA 02139 (617) 324-0133 jritt@mit.edu http://web.mit.edu/jritt Curriculum Vitae

I am a postdoc in Chris Moore's Lab in the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT. I received my Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the Boston University Program in Neuroscience, with advisor Nancy Kopell in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics and the Center for BioDynamics.

Research Interests - Active Sensing in Embodied Organisms

Two themes motivate my research: first, that behavior and the intelligence that guides it are fundamentally temporal, dynamical processes; and second, that intelligence is best understood as occurring in embodied organisms, and will reflect the physical properties of that embodiment in its computational substrates. I investigate these principles through a combination of theoretical, behavioral and electrophysiological approaches, concentrating on the rodent vibrissa (whisker) tactile sensory system.

A central part of this work is the development of a high-resolution method for measuring so-called "micromotions" in the vibrissae themselves, that are believed to underlie rodents' highly refined tactile capabilities. Although these are the inputs upon which all later neural processing must act, they have been largely unknown until recently because of the difficulty in measuring thin (~0.1mm width) hairs undergoing small amplitude, high frequency (hundreds of Hz) displacements, while translating over centimeters due to head and "whisking" motions. I have approached this using high-speed videography (>3000 frames per second) and automated algorithms for vibrissa tracking.

Here is a QuickTime movie of a rat exploring a textured surface; the movie alternates with computer tracking (shown overlaid) on or off. Original acquisition was at 3202 Frames per Second, so for most computers playback will be slowed down by about 100x. I am currently combining video with chronic cortical recordings, to untangle the relationships between behavioral choices, the physics of the sensor, subsequent neural encoding, and ultimately perceptual capabilities and task performance.

Publications

J. T. Ritt, M. L. Andermann, C. I. Moore, (2008) "Emdodied information processing: vibrissa mechanics and texture features shape micromotions in actively sensing rats". Neuron 57: 599-613.

M. A. Saito, T. Goepfert, J. T. Ritt, (2008) "Some thoughts on the concept of co-limitation: Three definitions and the importance of bioavailability". Limnology and Oceanography 53(1): 276-290.

M. L. Andermann, J. Ritt, M. A. Neimark, C. I. Moore, (2004) "Neural correlates of vibrissa resonance: band-pass and somatotopic representation of high frequency stimuli". Neuron, 42(3):451-63. [PDF]

J. Ritt, (2003) "Evaluation of entrainment of a nonlinear neural oscillator to white noise", Physical Reviews E, 68: 041915.[PDF]

Y. Manor, F. Nadim, S. Epstein, J. Ritt, E. Marder and N. Kopell, (1999) "Network oscillations generated by balancing graded asymmetric reciprocal inhibition in passive neurons". Journal of Neuroscience, 19: 2765-2779. [PDF]

C.C. Chow, J.A. White, J. Ritt, and N. Kopell, (1998) "Frequency control in synchronous networks of inhibitory neurons." Journal of Computational Neuroscience, 5: 407-420. [PDF]

J.A. White, C.C. Chow, J. Ritt, C. Soto-Trevino, and N. Kopell, (1998) "Synchronization and oscillatory dynamics in heterogeneous, mutually inhibited neurons." Journal of Computational Neuroscience, 5: 5-16. [PDF]

Massachusetts Institute of Technology - McGovern Institute for Brain Research - Moore Lab - Jason Ritt

Mail to jritt@mit.edu.