title: Caught on film: the secret lives of dendrites in the tadpole optic tectum.
abstract: Much is known about the functions and properties of neuronal dendrites, but rarely has dendritic activation been monitored while the dendrite performs a computational task. In this issue of Neuron, Bollmann and Engert demonstrate that different regions of a dendrite in the tadpole optic tectum are tuned to stimuli in different locations of the visual field. Their study is the first direct demonstration that dendritic regions act as semi-independent functional units during sensory processing in a vertebrate central nervous system.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, 303 East Chicago Avenue, Chicago, IL 60611, USA. jackwaters@northwestern.edu
authors.forename: Jack
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Waters