Event
Jude Mitchell: Neural mechanisms of pre-saccadic attention in the marmoset
Thursday, November 21, 2019
12:00 p.m.
3101 Bioscience Research Building
Daniel Butts
301 405-9890
Neural mechanisms of pre-saccadic attention in the marmoset
Jude Mitchell, University of Rochester
Host: Daniel Butts
Abstract
Rapid eye movements (saccades) are used to sample the visual world several times every second, selecting objects and bringing them to the fovea, the central region of highest acuity vision. Recent psychophysical studies suggest that that perception is enhanced immediately before saccades, which is thought to be related to a stable perception of the visual world across eye movements. We recorded from neurons in the visual cortex of marmoset (Callithrix Jacchus) as subjects searched for small targets against a background of flashing full-field sine wave gratings (recording in area V1), or while subjects planned a saccade to a motion dot field target (recording in area MT). As I will describe, we saw modulation of neural activity in both visual areas resembling the neural correlates of the observed perceptual effects, which serves as a foundation for dissecting the circuitry underlying stable visual perception across eye movements in a new model organism.
Rapid eye movements (saccades) are used to sample the visual world several times every second, selecting objects and bringing them to the fovea, the central region of highest acuity vision. Recent psychophysical studies suggest that that perception is enhanced immediately before saccades, which is thought to be related to a stable perception of the visual world across eye movements. We recorded from neurons in the visual cortex of marmoset (Callithrix Jacchus) as subjects searched for small targets against a background of flashing full-field sine wave gratings (recording in area V1), or while subjects planned a saccade to a motion dot field target (recording in area MT). As I will describe, we saw modulation of neural activity in both visual areas resembling the neural correlates of the observed perceptual effects, which serves as a foundation for dissecting the circuitry underlying stable visual perception across eye movements in a new model organism.
