Visual representations across cortical areas

Project summary Visual stimuli drive activity across a range of brain areas, including primary visual cortex (V1) and higher visual areas (HVAs). These HVAs vary in their downstream connectivity to support a range of visually guided behaviors. Similarly, these HVAs can vary in how they represent visual stimuli. Our recent results have revealed how a subset of HVAs in the mouse can vary in representations of motion and texture. However, we do not yet have a complete picture of how HVAs vary in their representations of visual stimuli during visually guided behavior. Moreover, it remains unclear how neural circuitry can support HVA-specific representations of components of visual stimuli. In this project, we will provide a definitive account of how components of complex visual stimuli are represented across cortical areas in behaving mice. Moreover, we will use novel measurements of statistical dependencies of neuronal activity across cortical areas to infer principles of population activity coding and circuit organization. This work will take advantage of several technologies our lab has helped to develop: large field- of-view two-photon calcium imaging, open-world naturalistic virtual reality for mice, and advanced analysis tools based on both classic approaches and modern statistical analysis. The results from this work will reveal insights into how HVAs parse complex visual stimuli into representations that can guide adaptive behavior.