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SUMMARY:Plastic brains for flexible decisions - Zoe Kourtzi (University of
  Cambridge)
DTSTART:20221014T153000Z
DTEND:20221014T170000Z
UID:TALK178826@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:John Mollon
DESCRIPTION:Understanding the world around us depends on the brain resolvi
 ng ambiguous information from our senses to inform our decisions and actio
 ns. The brain learns to interpret sensory signals by using past experience
  to optimize perceptual decisions. But how does practice mold the adult hu
 man brain and result in improved decisions? We combine ultra high-field st
 ructural\, functional and neurochemical brain imaging with computational m
 odeling to interrogate the fine-scale human brain circuits that support le
 arning for perceptual decisions. We provide evidence for interactions betw
 een subcortical and cortical circuits that gate sensory plasticity and per
 ceptual decision making. We show that thalamocortical plasticity mediates 
 gain control in visual cortex for detecting objects in clutter\, while occ
 ipital-parietal interactions mediate fine feature retuning through recurre
 nt inhibitory processing in visual cortex. These findings propose a dynami
 c interplay of adaptive structural and functional plasticity mechanisms fo
 r optimized and flexible decision making in the adult human brain.
LOCATION:Ground Floor Lecture Theatre\, Department of  Psychology
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