Jennifer Raymond

Title
Assistant Professor

Department
Neurobiology

Research Interests

Email
jenr@stanford.edu

Phone
725-9201

Fax
725-3958

Address
Fairchild D251
Mail Code: 5125

Faculty Research Description
My laboratory studies the neural mechanisms of learning. Our research aims to develop an integrated understanding of this fundamental brain function by systematically tracing learning from a sensory experience, through the neural encoding of that experience, to the induction of plasticity at specific loci in the brain, and the ultimate readout of the memory in an altered behavior. Toward this goal, we use a combination of behavioral, neurophysiological and computational approaches. The model system we study is a form of learning that calibrates the amplitude of eye movements produced by the vestibuloocular reflex (VOR). As an experimental system, learning in the VOR offers many advantages: the neural circuitry mediating the behavior is well understood, putative sites of synaptic plasticity have been identified, and a key neural structure is the cerebellum, which is well suited for both in vivo and in vitro studies of the mechanisms of learning.

One current focus in the lab is to record from the cerebellum in awake behaving animals during the induction of learning in order to identify the neural "error signals" that detect a miscalibration in the VOR and trigger the neural changes underlying learning. Another current project is to study learning in the VOR of transgenic mice, as a tool for linking systems level analysis of learning with cellular and molecular analyses of synaptic plasticity.

Raymond JL, Lisberger SG (1998). Neural learning rules for the vestibulo-ocular reflex. J Neurosci 18:9112-9129.

Raymond JL (1998). Learning in the oculomotor system: From molecules to behavior. Curr Opin Neuobiol 8:770-776.

Raymond JL, Lisberger SG, Mauk MD (1996). The Cerebellum: A Neuronal Learning Machine? Science 272:1126-1131.

Raymond JL, Lisberger SG (1996). Behavioral analysis of signals that guide learned changes in the amplitude and dynamics of the vestibulo-ocular reflex. J Neurosci 16:7791-7802.

Areas of Study
Systems/Behavioral Neuroscience
Cellular Neurobiology
Molecular Neurobiology
SBRC
Ph.D.