This seminar will begin at 4:00 pm at the Jerome L. Greene Science Center on Columbia University’s Manhattanville campus (L7-119). Light refreshments will be available starting at 3:30 pm.

This month's speakers:

Kate Hong (Bruno lab): "What Is the Role of Sensory Cortex?"

For all of our senses, the causal role of primary sensory cortex in detecting stimuli remains controversial. We examined the effects of both acute and chronic inactivation of barrel cortex in mice trained to perform a detection task and find opposing results. This work challenges the commonly held cortex-centric view of sensory perception, suggesting a larger role for subcortical pathways in sensory-guided behavior.

Xuexin Wei (Abbott & Paninski labs): "Using Modern Statistical/Machine Learning Techniques to Understand Neural Population Codes"

Developments in modern neuroscience have allowed the routine collection of measurements from populations of neurons. The challenge of unveiling the computations and representations underlying neural population responses has necessitated computational models of increasing sophistication. Fortunately, recent advances in statistics, machine learning, and information theory provide valuable tools for unraveling neural population codes. In this talk, I will describe some of our ongoing efforts to better characterize and understand neural representation in the early visual and spatial navigation systems in the mammalian brain.

This seminar is part of the Zuckerman Institute Postdoctoral Seminar series. For questions about this or future seminars, please contact series organizers Chris Rodgers, PhD, or Amy Norovich, PhD.