Residual population dynamics as a window into neural computation
Schedule
Friday, December 4, 2020
15:00 UTC
Valerio Mante
Prof
ETH Zurich
Host: The Neurotheory Forum
Recording
Open recording
Event Information
Recording
Available
Host
The Neurotheory Forum
Duration
70 minutes
Abstract
Neural activity in frontal and motor cortices can be considered to be the manifestation of a dynamical system implemented by large neural populations in recurrently connected networks. The computations emerging from such population-level dynamics reflect the interaction between external inputs into a network and its internal, recurrent dynamics. Isolating these two contributions in experimentally recorded neural activity, however, is challenging, limiting the resulting insights into neural computations. I will present an approach to addressing this challenge based on response residuals, i.e. variability in the population trajectory across repetitions of the same task condition. A complete characterization of residual dynamics is well-suited to systematically compare computations across brain areas and tasks, and leads to quantitative predictions about the consequences of small, arbitrary causal perturbations.
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