Topic: stimulus familiarity

Biological circuits adapt their behaviour through experience and ongoing learning in a non-trivial manner. Experimental evidence shows differing neuronal population responses to familiar and novel stimuli [1, 2], indicating that neural circuits operate in distinct processing modes depending on stimulus familiarity. In layer 2/3 of mouse primary visual cortex (V1) specifically, populations of pyramidal and vasoactive-intestinal-peptide-expressing (VIP) cells show pronounced responses to novel visual stimuli (novelty responses) and weaker responses to familiar ones. Although experimental and the