Speaker: Dr. Geoff Ghose, Assocaite Professor, Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, and Radiology, University of Minnesota

Time: Jun. 20th, 13:00 - 14:00

Venue: Room 101, Lui Che Woo Building（吕志和楼）, Peking University

Abstract: The recognition that individual cells in the brain are functionally distinct has been a driving force in neuroscience for the past 60 years. The necessity to understand brain signals at the cellular or near cellular level has driven the development of remarkable new technologies such as high resolution fMRI and multi-photon imaging that, unlike classical techniques such as EEG, are capable of studying activity on the spatial scale of individual cells level that we know is so important. Yet, relatively little attention has been paid to the fine temporal scale of neural processing. In this talk, I will present evidence from a variety of behavioral studies that suggests that appreciating the temporal scale of tens of milliseconds is just as important as the well-appreciated spatial scale of cells. First, I will discuss how temporally broad correlations confound the interpretation of common approaches to understanding the neural basis of behavior. Second, I will discuss how a new analytical technique developed by our lab can address these limitations, and how it reveals that micro-pools of tans of neurons over tens of milliseconds can explain both fast and slow decisions. I will show how changes in the reliability of micro-pools can also explain how behavior improves with attention and learning. Finally, consistent with these results, I will show how brief microstimulation trains, far shorter than have been typically employed, can have dramatic effects on behavior. Together, these studies highlight the necessity of high temporal resolution for understanding of the physiological basis of behavior.

Host: Dr. Cong Yu

2019-06-19