Events

Understanding how cortical circuits give rise to perception-allowing us, for example, to hear and see the world-remains a central challenge in neuroscience. The application of concepts from cognitive science, such as Representational Similarity Analysis, has proven valuable for interpreting large-scale neuronal recordings, including in rodent models. In this work, I present recent efforts from our laboratory to characterize the structure of auditory representations in the mouse cortex and demonstrate how these representations can be used to predict behavioral phenomena such as stimulus generalization and perceptual choice biases. Moreover, leveraging neuronal activity recordings at single-cell resolution, I describe our findings on the circuit mechanisms that organize sound-evoked activity into structured representational maps and maintain their integrity in the face of perturbations, including synaptic volatility and neuronal loss.

Numerous drugs have the ability to alter our perception, cognition, and mood. Some of these compounds, such as ketamine and serotonergic psychedelics, have also shown promise as treatment for mental illnesses. The behavioral effects are often long-lasting, presumably because the drugs act on synapses and dendrites to induce plasticity in the brain. In this talk, I will describe a series of studies from my lab aimed at understanding the mechanism of action of psilocybin, using subcellular-resolution two-photon imaging, in vivo electrophysiology, rabies viral tracing, and other molecular and behavioral approaches in mice. The results provide insights into the drug action of psychedelics on neural circuits.