Optimal state manifolds for a core circuit of the primary visual cortex (C06)

• Subject Area: Cognitive, Systems and Behavioural Neurobiology ; Human Cognitive and Systems Neuroscience
• Term: from 2011 to 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 154113120

A system of orientation-selective neurons underlies form vision in V1. This circuitry precisely follows universal quantitative laws, correctly predicted so far only by one specific type of activity-dependent self-organization models. The requirements for their generation and selection are unknown. In a general, assumption-free agnostic approach, we will (1) parameterize optimization principles for this circuit, (2) use continuation methods to semi-analytically obtain their solutions and ground states and determine the presence, nature, and topology of the ground state manifolds they exhibit, and (3) test the presence of ground state manifolds by experimentally characterizing the rearrangement of the circuit in juvenile V1.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• Subproject of: SFB 889: Cellular Mechanisms of Sensory Processing
• Applicant Institution: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
• Project Head: Professor Dr. Fred Wolf