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SUMMARY:The neural circuit underlying perceptual expectations - Peter Kok 
 (UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology)
DTSTART:20211203T144500Z
DTEND:20211203T161500Z
UID:TALK163411@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Psychology Reception
DESCRIPTION:The way we perceive the world is strongly influenced by our ex
 pectations about what we are likely to see at any given moment. However\, 
 the neural mechanisms by which the brain achieves this remarkable feat hav
 e yet to be established. In order to understand the neural mechanisms unde
 rlying the interplay between sensory inputs and prior expectations\, we ne
 ed to investigate the way these signals flow through the cortical layers. 
 Until recently\, it was not possible to do this in non-invasive studies of
  humans\, because the typical voxel size in fMRI is bigger than the full t
 hickness of the cortex (2-2.5mm). I will discuss recent work in which we m
 et this challenge by using fMRI at ultra-high field (7T) to obtain BOLD si
 gnals at very high resolution\, and using a novel spatial regression analy
 sis to disambiguate signals from the different cortical layers. This appro
 ach has allowed us to reveal the neural circuitry underlying effects of ex
 pectation on sensory processing. I will also discuss the role of the hippo
 campus as a potential generator of top-down expectation effects in visual 
 cortex. Together\, this work demonstrates that expectations play a fundame
 ntal role in sensory processing\, and ultimately in the way we perceive th
 e world.\n
LOCATION:Zoom meeting
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