Event Abstract Back to Event Towards autonomous large scale recordings of natural behavior of weakly electric fish Jörg Henninger1* and Jan Benda1 1 Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Division of Neurobiology, Department Biology II, Germany Weakly electric fish are a well established model system for studying sensory processing in vertebrates, providing great electrophysiological accessibility as well as a concise behavior. These preconditions make it one of the few model systems where electrophysiological data have been successfully discussed in the context of behaviorally relevant stimuli. In order to better understand tuning properties of the electrosensory system, data on the statistical structure that characterizes natural communication signals is needed. However, most behavioral data have been acquired under very restricted lab conditions. We present a novel method that allows to monitor the movement, electric organ discharge (EOD), and communication signals of individual weakly electric fish in their natural habitat. In our proof-of-concept study, we use a setup composed of an evenly spaced grid of 16 electrodes covering up to 9 m2. In a first step, we identify individual fishes by spectral analysis. Fitting a 3D dipole model to the data yields the fishes positions, orientations and EOD strengths. In a second step, the individual fishes EOD is extracted for analysis, e. g. detection of chirps. In a third step, the EOD of all recorded fishes in proximity are integrated at each fish"s position to construct the electric signals each fish receives in context of communication. For the first time, this new method allows to quantitatively analyze the interactions and communication of groups of weakly electric fish in their natural habitat. The method also provides powerful means to cover daily and seasonal changes in communication behavior as well as a novel framework for playback studies. Keywords: computational neuroscience Conference: Bernstein Conference on Computational Neuroscience, Berlin, Germany, 27 Sep - 1 Oct, 2010. Presentation Type: Presentation Topic: Bernstein Conference on Computational Neuroscience Citation: Henninger J and Benda J (2010). Towards autonomous large scale recordings of natural behavior of weakly electric fish. Front. Comput. Neurosci. Conference Abstract: Bernstein Conference on Computational Neuroscience. doi: 10.3389/conf.fncom.2010.51.00005 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 02 Sep 2010; Published Online: 22 Sep 2010. * Correspondence: Dr. Jörg Henninger, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Division of Neurobiology, Department Biology II, Martinsried, Germany, henninger@bio.lmu.de Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Jörg Henninger Jan Benda Google Jörg Henninger Jan Benda Google Scholar Jörg Henninger Jan Benda PubMed Jörg Henninger Jan Benda Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.