• Disentangling interactions across brain

    From ScienceDaily@1:317/3 to All on Tue Mar 1 21:30:38 2022
    Disentangling interactions across brain areas

    Date:
    March 1, 2022
    Source:
    College of Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University
    Summary:
    Researchers are simultaneously recording populations of neurons
    across brain areas in the visual system and utilizing novel
    statistical methods to observe neural activity patterns being
    conveyed.



    FULL STORY ========================================================================== Exploring how brain areas communicate with each other is the focus of a
    long- standing research collaboration between Carnegie Mellon University, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and Champalimaud Research. The cross-continental team is simultaneously recording populations of neurons across multiple brain areas in the visual system and utilizing novel statistical methods to observe neural activity patterns being conveyed
    between the areas. Their latest findings reveal that feedforward and
    feedback signaling involve different neural activity patterns, lending
    fresh understanding into how the brain processes visual information.


    ==========================================================================
    A myriad of brain functions, such as seeing, hearing, and making
    decisions, require multiple brain areas to communicate with one
    another. Researchers have previously studied pairs of neurons or
    some aggregate metric of neuronal activity across areas to assess how information is taken in, processed, and then acted upon in everyday
    life. Few groups have studied, in such detail, populations of neurons
    together to see what type of activity patterns are being communicated
    across brain areas.

    "The idea of this study was to investigate how information flows across
    two areas in the visual cortex, V1 and V2," says Joa~o D. Semedo,
    first author of the work published in Nature Communications and former electrical and computer engineering Ph.D. student. "We had strong
    reasons to believe that the areas communicated with one another, based
    on anatomy, but tracking the flow of signals between areas has proven to
    be really difficult." Semedo continues, "Using pioneering technology
    from Dr. Kohn's lab, we have been able to record multiple brain areas
    at the same time, and within each of those brain areas, record many
    neurons. It is the activity of a group of neurons together that tells us
    what is specifically going on. Then, we applied statistical methods in
    a creative way to pull out signals that haven't been extracted before."
    In their analysis, the group identified directed interactions between
    brain areas and confirmed that patterns of activity in feedforward
    interactions (from V1 to V2), differed from patterns of activity in
    feedback interactions (from V2 to V1). Weekly meetings and a tight-knit, teamwork-driven approach has enabled the collaborators to stay connected
    on all aspects of the work and contributed to their success.

    "Understanding what is communicated from one brain area to another is
    tough to disentangle, because signals are flowing in all directions, all
    the time," explains Adam Kohn, professor of neuroscience at the Albert
    Einstein College of Medicine. "The thing that is most exciting to me about
    this work is the perspectives it opens for the future. If we can pinpoint
    the activity patterns that are involved in different signaling directions,
    it will be a big step forward in understanding how the brain works."
    More broadly, these methods could be applied to investigate the flow of communication in other areas of the brain, outside of the visual system.

    "Studies like these increase our basic scientific understanding of how
    the brain works," says Byron Yu, professor of biomedical engineering
    and electrical and computer engineering. "Many brain disorders involve
    a breakdown of communication between brain areas. This pioneering
    work could lead to novel treatments for such disorders, and even help
    us develop new methods to aid brain development and ways to learn."
    special promotion Explore the latest scientific research on sleep and
    dreams in this free online course from New Scientist -- Sign_up_now_>>> ========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by College_of_Engineering,_Carnegie_Mellon_University.

    Original written by Sara Vaccar. Note: Content may be edited for style
    and length.


    ========================================================================== Journal Reference:
    1. Joa~o D. Semedo, Anna I. Jasper, Amin Zandvakili, Aravind Krishna,
    Amir
    Aschner, Christian K. Machens, Adam Kohn, Byron M. Yu. Feedforward
    and feedback interactions between visual cortical areas use
    different population activity patterns. Nature Communications,
    2022; 13 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-28552-w ==========================================================================

    Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/03/220301131202.htm

    --- up 1 day, 10 hours, 50 minutes
    * Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1:317/3)