Functional microcircuitry of the primary Visual Cortex

Project Details

Different parts of cerebral cortex subserving many different functions have almost the same morphological structure, suggesting that a common neuronal circuit is able to transform the input into the unique function that the area mediates. The primary visual cortex is arguably the site that has been most intensively investigated than any other brain region in our search for the canonical microcircuit. Our past and ongoing experiments are throwing new light on this problem, especially with regard to how thalamic inputs are able to specify the impressive selectivity shown by cortical cells for different attributes of the sensory stimulus such as the orientation or speed of movement of a contour.

PhD student Errol Lloyd explains emergence of cortical orientation selectivity