Vision Seminar: Dan Butts

Dr. Dan Butts, Assistant Professor, University of Maryland
"Temporal precision as a tool to understand visual system circuitry and function"

Host: Maria Geffen

Abstract: Visual neurons *can* respond with precise timing relative to stimuli. In early stages of visual processing, the precise timing of responses can be used to infer details of the underlying circuitry that generated it. I will describe how temporal precision in retinal ganglion cell responses is shaped by specific components of the retinal circuit, revealing new elements of visual computation. Given the precision emerging from the retina, responses in the awake visual cortex are more notable for their lack of precision. However, as with the retina, using appropriately precise descriptions of stimulus processing for neurons in primary visual cortex and area MT can reveal underlying sources of trial-to-trial variability, and I will show that they are related to elements of behavior and decision-making. These stories share the common theme of leveraging nonlinear models to uncover rich detail present in neurophysiological data, and suggest novel approaches to understanding visual computation in its proper context.