NB-CNS Seminar - Hillel Adesnik

Abstract:

Despite extensive investigation, the patterns of neural activity that actually drive sensory perception remain largely unknown. By recreating precise patterns of cortical activity using two photon holographic stimulation, we reveal surprising features of the cortical codes that mediate low level detection of visual stimuli and high level inference for filling in missing visual information. For detection, we find that the informativeness of the visually driven cortical neurons does not predict their impact on perception; instead their local, recurrent impact is the main predictor of their perceptual effects. For visual inference, we find that the same recurrents circuits are critical for amplifying feedback signals from higher visual areas to fill in missing information. Finally, I will present a new all-optical methodology for mapping and tracking monosynaptic connections in the intact brains of mice. This new approach will enable direct measurement of the synaptic changes that drive information storage in neural circuits and thereby reveal the biological algorithms of learning.