Jeudi 10 janvier 2013
In many functionally distinct regions of the brain, populations of neurons form maps
of sensory and cognitive spaces. In this talk, I will explain a physicist’s approach to
the neural topography of information. First, I will review the brain’s architecture.
Next, I will present evidence from the early visual system that the brain minimizes
the neural resources required to reach the fidelity necessary to represent natural
stimuli, given an animal’s behavioral needs. I will then apply this principle of efficiency
to the "sense of place" — i.e., the representation of an animal’s physical location
in the "place cell" and "grid cell" systems, which have been discovered in the
hippocampus and the entorhinal cortex. I will conclude by discussing how similar
analyses broadly illuminate the organization of other cognitive systems, such as
olfaction and the perception of shapes.
RECRUTEMENT ACCES DIRECT
Le département de physique
Fête de la Science 2018 