BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//132.216.98.100//NONSGML kigkonsult.se iCalcreator 2.20.4// BEGIN:VEVENT UID:20250830T040202EDT-4823gnGkTU@132.216.98.100 DTSTAMP:20250830T080202Z DESCRIPTION:Neural correlates of optimized invariant coding in sensory syst ems\n\nAmin Akhshi\, ºÚÁÏÉç\n Tuesday September 9\, 12-1pm\n Zoom Link: https://mcgill.zoom.us/j/87078928687\n In Person: 550 Sherbrooke\, R oom 189\n \n Abstract: It has been widely observed that neurons ubiquitously exhibit substantial heterogeneities in their firing patterns\, including variability in burst firing (i.e.\, clusters of action potentials followed by quiescence). However\, the factors driving these firing heterogeneitie s and their functional role in population coding of incoming sensory infor mation remain a central challenge in neuroscience.\n\nWe combined computat ional modeling with in vivo recordings from pyramidal cells in the electro sensory system of weakly electric fish to investigate the sources and func tional impact of this heterogeneity. Specifically\, we examined how the br ain maintains stable representations of sensory objects despite contextual changes. Our conductance-based model accurately reproduced diverse spikin g activities in vivo and demonstrated that extrinsic synaptic input\, rath er than intrinsic cellular properties\, primarily drives spiking heterogen eity at the population level. We then investigated the functional conseque nces of this diversity for invariant coding\, which allows for stable obje ct recognition across different contexts. Our results revealed that burst firing\, caused by the synergistic interaction between extrinsic input and intrinsic properties\, is a key mechanism that promotes these invariant r epresentations of natural stimuli at the population level\, while the unde rlying heterogeneities contribute to discrimination between details of the input context.\n\nGiven the shared anatomical and physiological features across sensory modalities\, these findings likely generalize broadly. We t hus propose a novel function for burst firing in enhancing the invariant n eural representation of sensory input at the population level.\n DTSTART:20250909T160000Z DTEND:20250909T170000Z SUMMARY:QLS Seminar Series - Amin Akhshi URL:/qls/channels/event/qls-seminar-series-amin-akhshi -366853 END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR