The seminar is sponsored by NYU-ECNU Institute of Brain and Cognitive Science at NYU Shanghai.
Abstract:
The ability of forming abstract and invariant perceptual representations is considered a hallmark of primate high-level cognition. Using a novel fully-automated high-throughput behavioral system for voluntary head fixation, I will provide evidence that this cognitive ability can be demonstrated in mice as well. Specifically, I will show that mice can form an abstract representation of the orientation of visual stimuli, invariant relative to several stimulus transformations. Using methods from psychophysics and signal-detection theory, I will describe how numerous facets of this cognitive ability are strikingly similar to what observed in primates. Finally, seeking to reveal where and how in the cortex this cognitive skill arises, I will discuss some preliminary wide-field optical imaging recordings (GCaMP6f) from the mouse visual cortex.
Biography:
Andrea Benucci is a Team Leader (Assistant Professor level) at RIKEN Brain Science Institute near Tokyo in Japan. He opened his Lab at BSI at the end of 2013, when he moved from the University College London where he held a position as a Senior Research Associate. His scientific interests are at the intersection of theoretical and experimental Neuroscience. The main focus of his work is to combine theoretical modeling and experimental approaches to study sensory decision-making in a Murine animal model.