In highly controlled behavioural experiments, rats are trained to perform a sensory discrimination task in order to collect a reward. This project investigates how cortical neurons represent sensory stimuli, how the brain analyses the sensory information, learns about the stimulus reward association, and makes decisions under uncertain conditions. We have developed a novel behavioural paradigm involving the detection/discrimination of vibro-tactile stimuli. Read our recent papers that compare the behavioural performance in this paradigm with the response function of single barrel cortex neurons: