Prof. Nachum Ulanovsky

We take a “Natural Neuroscience” approach, which aims to decipher the neural mechanisms of natural behaviors in freely-moving animals. We focus on studies of neural codes for space, time, and social behaviors – in flying bats – using wireless neurophysiology methods that we pioneered. We discovered novel neuronal representations in animals navigating through complex, 3D, or large-scale environments, or engaged in social interactions. These include 3D place cells and grid cells, as well as “vector cells” representing the direction and distance to goals, and “social place-cells” representing other animals. We believe that brain research should be conducted under evermore naturalistic settings.  For more details, see: www.weizmann.ac.il/brain-sciences/labs/ulanovsky