Neuroscience

Learn about the fundamental properties of electroretinograms of various arthropods, such as field-caught insects and spiders. Record the visual responses of an arthropod to various pulse durations and wavelengths of light.

Build an artificial neuron to demonstrate and explain passive nerve properties. Understand shapes of extracellular signals recorded by EMG or action potentials in frog sciatic nerve.

Stimulate cockroach sensory nerve spines and record evoked action potentials. Compare spontaneous and evoked action potentials. Assess the influence of the angle of deflection on action potential size and frequency. Demonstrate adaptation of sensory neurons during prolonged stimulation.

Record extracellular action potentials from the ventral nerve cord of a large cockroach. Apply various different stimuli to the cerci and observe the electrical response. Measure the travel-time of an action potential and calculate nerve conduction velocity.

Explore the basic principles of extracellular nerve recording. Dissect a crayfish tail to set up stretch receptor and motor nerve analysis.

Investigate neuromuscular interaction by simultaneously recording the extracellular activity from a muscle fiber and it's innervating nerve.

Obtain extracellular recordings of action potentials from an anesthetized earthworm (Lumbricus spp). Complete five exercises to examine and demonstrate threshold potential, recruitment, all-or-none response, refractory period, bidrectionality of impulse and conduction velocity of the nerve.

Observe the pattern of baseline movements in an organ bath preparation of isolated earthworm gut. Apply various manipulations and discover the effects of neurotransmitters, extracellular ions and temperature on contraction rate and strength.

Recognize artifacts in an EEG signal caused by blinking and subject movement. Record and identify alpha and beta EEG rhythm, and analyze how a signal is affected by opening and shutting the eyes, mental activity and auditory stimulation.

Record EMG during voluntary muscle contractions and investigate how contractile force changes with increasing demand. Examine the activity of antagonist muscles, see the phenomenon of coactivation and calculate nerve conduction velocity.

Construct and calibrate a nerve bath setup in order to measure compound action potentials from an isolated frog sciatic nerve. Explore basic nerve physiological properties such as threshold, refractory period and conduction velocity.

Mount a dissected frog gastrocnemius muscle and sciatic nerve to investigate the physiological relationship between the two. Research the principles of twitch recruitment, muscle fatigue and the neuromuscular junction using the muscle relaxant, tubocurarine.

Explore the basic principles of intracellular recording from several excitable cell types including a muscle fiber, neuron and alga cell.

Learn the basics of the PowerLab Data Acquisition System and LabChart software.

Discover the responses of reflexes and reaction times to a variety of stimuli. Elicit and quantify a knee jerk reaction, trigger the pupillary light reflex and a withdrawal reflex, and measure reaction time in reponse to a visual cue under varying conditions.