Topic: feedback connections

In this talk I outline the technical challenges and current solutions to layer fMRI. Specifically, I describe our acquisition strategies for maximizing resolution, spatial coverage, time efficiency as well as, perhaps most importantly, vascular specificity. Novel applications from our group, including mapping feedforward and feedback connections to M1 during task and sensory input modulation and S1 during a sensory prediction task are be shown. Layer specific activity in dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex during a working memory task is also demonstrated. Additionally, I’ll show preliminary work

Efficient behavior in our noisy and ambiguous world calls for the strategic use of the arising uncertainty by probabilistic inference [1]. Probabilistic inference in complex dynamic environments is challenging as it requires tracking not only individual latent variables but also the interactions among them. As a result, a neural circuit that optimally encodes these variables would need to be recurrently wired to relay information between them via feedback connections [2]. Given the additional cost of evolving and maintaining these feedback connections, we sought the circumstances under which t