Beyond the Binary Neuron - the nature of graded neural signals and their behavioral implications

In almost every Neuroscience textbook you will find a statement about the binary nature of neurons: either they are on or off. However, in the last decade, several papers have shown that this is not entirely true, at least not for all neurons. The inferior olive – which relays input to the cerebellum that is important for motor learning – fires in bursts containing 1-6 spikes. Thus, the signal is not binary, it is graded. Moreover, we have previously shown that the number of spikes in a single signal determines the behavioral outcome – such as whether learning goes in one direction or another. This project aims to advance our understanding of the nature of these graded olivary signals as well as their behavioral implications.