Projections from the cerebellum

Circuits and Systems

The major goal of systems neuroscience is to understand how neuronal circuits function to produce sensation, emotion, action, and other complex behaviors.  Questions addressed by systems neuroscience investigators include:

  • How do we see, hear, feel, move, and make decisions?
  • How do neurons encode sensory information and how is that information decoded?
  • How can we keep track of a single voice in the complex environment of a noisy party?
  • How does processing of sensory information change with age?
  • How do we navigate through a complex environment?
  • What is the functional organization of neuronal connections that give rise to the emergent properties of the functioning nervous system?
  • How do different brain areas communicate with each other?
  • How do neural circuits form memories? And how can this information be retrieved again?

Faculty studying systems