Wiest recent work (bold font indicates undergraduate author)

Bohon, K, Wiest, MC (2014).  Role of medio-dorsal frontal and posterior parietal neurons during auditory detection performance in rats. PLoS ONE 9(12): e114064. Doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0114064.

Though neuroscience is over a hundred years old, the basic brain mechanisms that underlie perception remain poorly understood.  In this study Dr. Wiest and Kaitlin Bohon ’14 recorded and analyzed action potential responses of neurons in frontal and parietal cortex of rats performing a self-paced two-choice auditory detection task, in order to identify neurons whose responses were consistent with signaling the rat’s perception of the target tone—as distinct from the movements the rat used to report its perception.  Their novel approach allowed them to identify candidate action potential correlates of auditory perception in the frontal and parietal cortex of rats for the first time.