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SUMMARY:TODAY Adrian Seminar - &quot\;Brain dynamics in a firefly catching
  task&quot\; - Dora Angelaki\, Baylor College of Medicine\, Houston\, Texa
 s
DTSTART:20171009T153000Z
DTEND:20171009T170000Z
UID:TALK80391@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Lyn Dakin
DESCRIPTION:Neural circuits evolved to deal with the complex demands of a 
 dynamic and uncertain world. To understand dynamic neural processing under
 lying natural behaviour\, we use a continuous-time foraging task in which 
 humans and macaques use a joystick to steer and catch flashing fireflies i
 n a virtual environment. In order to solve the task\, monkeys must dynamic
 ally update their position estimates by integrating optic flow generated b
 y self-motion\, a process known as 'path integration'. We introduce a prob
 abilistic framework to refute a popular account of path integration that a
 ttributes biases to forgetful integration. We instead find that such biase
 s are explained naturally by an optimal strategy that maximizes rewards wh
 ile accounting for prior expectations about our own movements. Interesting
 ly\, both humans and monkeys continue to track the target even after it wa
 s long gone\, such that variability in subjects' eye positions mirrors the
 ir behavioral variability. Our results suggest that the output of integrat
 ion may be embedded in the brain's oculomotor circuit\, such that the eye 
 position provides a dynamic readout of one's distance to target during vis
 ual path integration. We use multi-electrode array and laminar probes to s
 ample the activity of a large number of neurons in the posterior parietal 
 cortex and find that different neurons are active during different epochs 
 of integration. Neurons exhibit rich temporal diversity such that the inte
 gration dynamics appear embedded in the dynamical pattern of population ac
 tivity. We are currently applying statistical techniques to characterise t
 he precise dynamics of population activity to understand the associated ne
 ural computations.\n\n
LOCATION:The Hodgkin Huxley Seminar Room\, Department of Physiology Develo
 pment and Neuroscience
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