Internal Seminar: Masakazu Igarashi, Three-dimensional kinematic analysis of bimanual coordination during food manipulation in head-fixed rats

Internal Seminar

Speaker: Masakazu Igarashi, Postdoctoral Researcher, Neurobiology Research Unit (Jeff Wickens Unit)

Title: Three-dimensional kinematic analysis of bimanual coordination during food manipulation in head-fixed rats

Abstract: 

Bimanual coordination – in which both hands work together to achieve a goal – is crucial for the most basic needs of daily life such as gathering and feeding. Rodents demonstrate dexterous coordination of forelimbs when feeding. Manipulation of food objects involves repertoires of paw usage including symmetric and asymmetric bimanual movements. Recently, we developed an imaging system for measuring bimanual coordination in rats. The system recorded forelimb position during spontaneous food handling and consumption in head-fixed conditions. We demonstrate the use of this system in automatic movement classification, and its application to investigating cortical crosstalk in bimanual movements.

Please join us for free pizza and scientific discussion following the Internal Seminar at 5:30pm outside of room B700 in Lab 3.