Center for Neurodynamics members David F. Russell, Lon Wilkens, and Frank Moss demonstrated that the phenomenon of stochastic resonance, a noise-induced enhancement of weak periodic signals, can be used by animals during their daily lives. This discovery, the use of behavioral stochastic resonance by the paddlefish for feeding, was published in Nature in 1999.
In subsequent years, David Russell and his colleague Alexander Neiman pursued their study of the role of electrical noise and neural synchronization in the paddlefish sensory system, publishing a number of papers in this field. They are continuing their collaboration at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio.
Selected papers:
Neiman AB, Russell DF.
Two distinct types of noisy oscillators in electroreceptors of paddlefish.
J Neurophysiol. 2004 Jul;92(1):492-509.
Neiman AB, Russell DF.
Synchronization of noise-induced bursts in noncoupled sensory neurons.
Phys Rev Lett. 2002 Apr 1;88(13):138103.
Freund JA, Schimansky-Geier L, Beisner B, Neiman A, Russell DF, Yakusheva T, Moss F.
Behavioral stochastic resonance: how the noise from a Daphnia swarm enhances individual prey capture by juvenile paddlefish. J Theor Biol. 2002 Jan 7;214(1):71-83.
Steuer R, Ebeling W, Russell DF, Bahar S, Neiman A, Moss F.
Entropy and local uncertainty of data from sensory neurons.
Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys. 2001 Dec;64(6 Pt 1):061911.
Neiman A, Russell DF.
Stochastic biperiodic oscillations in the electroreceptors of paddlefish.
Phys Rev Lett. 2001 Apr 9;86(15):3443-6.
Freund JA, Kienert J, Schimansky-Geier L, Beisner B, Neiman A, Russell DF, Yakusheva T, Moss F.
Behavioral stochastic resonance: how a noisy army betrays its outpost.
Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys. 2001 Mar;63(3 Pt 1):031910.
Greenwood PE, Ward LM, Russell DF, Neiman A, Moss F.
Stochastic resonance enhances the electrosensory information available to paddlefish for prey capture.
Phys Rev Lett. 2000 May 15;84(20):4773-6.
