The visual system can perform a range of tasks, from identifying objects to tracking moving stimuli. Past studies have suggested that depending on specific task demands, the brain may dynamically gate information transmitted to an assortment of higher order visual areas that are specialized for processing the relevant visual features. To date however, the role of the specific extrastriate visual areas in guiding behavior, as well as th neural mechanisms by which these areas are modulated according to task demands, remains unclear. To investigate whether the various visual cortical areas in mouse are modulated in a task dependent manner, this project employs two distinct visual behavioral tasks which contain identical stimuli but that require the animal to answer based upon different stimulus features (orientation or spatial location).
In Aim 1, I will use widefield calcium imaging to determine the task-related differences in population activity in each of the visual cortical areas while mice perform either the orientation discrimination task or the spatial location task.
In Aim 2, I will ue 2-photon calcium imaging in targeted areas of extrastriate cortex to determine how single cell and ensemble responses are differentially modulated based on the task-relevant stimulus features. Together, these aims will demonstrate where and how task-related demands can differentially gate specific information in the extrastriate visual areas. The proposed experiments will also inform future studies aimed at dissecting the neural circuits underlying shifts in visual processing, and causal tests into the role of specific neural activity patterns in driving goal- directed behavior.
This project will study the transformation of encoded information across functional circuits in the visual system, and thus will have direct impact on studies of disease states resulting in blindness or visual impairment. Furthermore, our approach and findings should be broadly applicable to a number of developmental disorders, such as dyslexia, autism, and schizophrenia, which are thought to result from aberrant cortical organization and function.
| Wekselblatt, Joseph B; Flister, Erik D; Piscopo, Denise M et al. (2016) Large-scale imaging of cortical dynamics during sensory perception and behavior. J Neurophysiol 115:2852-66 |
| Wekselblatt, Joseph B; Niell, Cristopher M (2015) Behavioral State--Getting ""In The Zone"". Neuron 87:7-9 |
