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The Lake Michigan Sculpin used in the study of the lateral line system. The lateral line system is a sensory system used by the fish to detect water displacements caused by other animals. The lateral line sensory cells are similar to those found in the auditory system.
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The major objective of physiological research is to characterize how complex signals are encoded and processed by nerve cells in the peripheral and central nervous system. In this approach, intra- and extracellular recording techniques are used to measure the responses of single cells or groups of cells to various stimuli produced by objects that might exist in an animal's environment, as one or more of these stimulus dimensions are varied, for example frequency, intensity or source location. Anatomical techniques are used to (1) identify the location of electrodes used in measuring these neurophysiological responses from brain cells, (2) determine the structural organization of the neural processing centers (nuclei) in the brain, and (3) describe structures of the peripheral sensory systems. Physiological results from cells at different levels of the nervous system are compared to each other, to modeled predictions (see Modeling in Research and Education) and to results from anatomical and behavioral experiments (see Behavioral and Psychophysical Research) conducted on the same animal to determine how sound features are encoded and transformed by the nervous system. Physiological and anatomical research is conducted in several facilities at Parmly and addresses many different questions: