Venue: FIAS 0.101

Dr. Augusto Lempel speaks on Thursday, 07 March 2024, at 2 p.m. in room 0.101.

Abstract:

Sensory processing relies on well-structured spatiotemporal patterns of cortical responses that mature with experience. The specific transformations in functional circuits that drive this developmental process remain unknown. My post-doctoral work at the Fitzpatrick laboratory addresses this gap by investigating the development of feedforward and recurrent circuits contributing to the modular representation of edge orientation in layers 2/3 of the ferret primary visual cortex (V1). Using novel experimental designs that combine electrophysiology and calcium imaging techniques, I resolved the laminar and temporal structure of correlated modular activity elicited by visual edges in V1 before and after visual experience. Data uncovered unexpected developmental transformations that reject purely feedforward models and provide evidence for an experience-driven alignment of feedforward-recurrent circuits.