QBI Seminar: Neural Plasticity via Visual Cortical Maps

Event Details

Date:

Wednesday, 15 July 2015 - Wednesday, 15 July 2015

Time:

12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

Room:

QBI Level 7 Auditorium

UQ Location:

Queensland Brain Institute (St Lucia)

URL:

http://www.qbi.uq.edu.au/neuroscience-seminars

Event category(s):

Full Description:: Nick Hughes
Queensland Brain Institute, University of Queensland

Title: Neural Plasticity via Visual Cortical Maps

Abstract:
How the brain changes in response to experience, especially during development, is a fundamental question in neuroscience, and the visual system provides an excellent model system for investigating such neural plasticity. In particular the striking patterned arrangement of preferences for different visual features such as edge orientation in the visual cortex, and their modulation by visual input in early life, has become a paradigm model for studying these questions. However, as the features of these patterns being studied become more detailed, the accurate estimation of their structure from noisy imaging data becomes critical. In this talk I will discuss my work developing quantitative methods for the reconstruction of maps from experimental data, and for the analysis of changes in map structure in response to abnormal visual environments during development.