The main objective of our investigations is to further the understanding of the relationship between behavior and activity of neuronal ensemble. To address specifically this wide question we use two strategies.

The first strategy is to investigate the role of the basal ganglia in the control of the dynamic of locomotion. Experimentaly we combine behavioral, electrohyphysiological and analytical methods to address this question and understand the type of neuronal computation underlying such control. We are also exploring the possibility that the behavioral control excerted by the basal ganglia is central to embodied cognition.

The second strategy is to introduce perturbation in the brain and to correlate changes in network activity and behavioral alteration. This strategy yielded exciting results in our previous works studying the effects of cannabis on spatial memory and hippocampal network activity. We are currently applying a similar approach to causally link neuronal activity in the basal ganglia and control of locomotion.