Recent technological advances in neural data acquisition from a large number of neurons across multiple brain regions have opened up a unique window of opportunity to gain insight into the complex dynamic interactions among neurons, within neuronal populations, and across brain regions at unprecedented spatiotemporal resolutions. In order to exploit these data, computationally efficient analysis techniques capable of simultaneously capturing the dynamicity, task-dependence, and statistical characteristics of the underlying functional networks are required. The research objective of this proposal is to develop a system identification methodology to extract functional network dynamics at the neuronal scale, and to apply it to large-scale recordings in order to probe and reveal the neuronal mechanisms that underlie behavior.
The research approaches are to identify the temporal causal influences in neuronal ensembles in a robust and scalable fashion, capture abrupt changes in the covariance structure of the neuronal data, and extract the cross-frequency coupling of the network nodes with high resolution. This project addresses several outstanding challenges faced by existing methodologies, including loss of spectrotemporal resolution due to the use of sliding windows, lack of domain-specific models to capture the network dynamics, and ad hoc estimation procedures that result in highly biased network characteristics. By employing electrophysiology and two-photon calcium imaging data from the auditory systems of ferrets and mice, the proposed modeling and estimation framework will be used to investigate several fundamental questions pertaining to the functional organization of the networks involved in auditory processing. The project is expected to impact technology by providing signal processing solutions to be used in neural control systems. The research is also integrated with education and outreach activities including high school level workshops, undergraduate involvement, and course development.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
