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SUMMARY:Modelling cortical gain in autism (without neuroimaging) - Dr Rebe
 cca Lawson\, Sir Henry Dale Fellowship\, Affiliated Lecturer Department of
  Psychology\, University of Cambridge
DTSTART:20181005T153000Z
DTEND:20181005T163000Z
UID:TALK110836@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Louise White
DESCRIPTION:Behavioural and neural measures of visual processing indicate 
 that perception is strongly influenced by the recent sensory past. Such co
 ntext sensitive sensory responses arise from gain control mechanisms\, whe
 re estimates of variability scale the driving neural responses to sensory 
 input. Gain control can operate locally\, in the form of divisive normalis
 ation (reflecting inhibitory interactions between functionally related cel
 l populations) or distally\, in the form of precision weighting (reflectin
 g the action of feedback connections and neuromodulators). In this talk I 
 will first offer an account of how these mechanisms provide a computationa
 l and neurobiological framework to interrogate the notion of ‘context in
 sensitive’ perception in autism. I will then go on to present some recen
 t data examining how visual processing in autistic adults is contextualise
 d by the recent sensory history. Using computational modelling approaches\
 , we find that local normalisation of sensory responses occurs typically i
 n autism. However\, we find evidence for altered noradrenergic regulation 
 of how sensory processing is contextualised by learned expectations. 
LOCATION:Ground Floor Lecture Theatre\, Department of Psychology
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