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Our Research Publications

Below is a selection of our previous publications and media coverage.
Full list of our publications is available on Google Scholar, ORCID, and ResearchGate.

Previous Work
Postdoctoral
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Abstract
Decision-making requires flexibility to rapidly switch one’s actions in response to sensory stimuli depending on information stored in memory. We identified cortical areas and neural activity patterns underlying this flexibility during virtual navigation, where mice switched navigation toward or away from a visual cue depending on its match to a remembered cue. Optogenetics screening identified V1, posterior parietal cortex (PPC), and retrosplenial cortex (RSC) as necessary for accurate decisions. Calcium imaging revealed neurons that can mediate rapid navigation switches by encoding a mixture of a current and remembered visual cue. These mixed selectivity neurons emerged through task learning and predicted the mouse’s choices by forming efficient population codes before correct, but not incorrect, choices. They were distributed across posterior cortex, even V1, and were densest in RSC and sparsest in PPC. We propose flexibility in navigation decisions arises from neurons that mix visual and memory information within a visual-parietal-retrosplenial network.

Predoctoral
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Abstract
Decision-making requires flexibility to rapidly switch one’s actions in response to sensory stimuli depending on information stored in memory. We identified cortical areas and neural activity patterns underlying this flexibility during virtual navigation, where mice switched navigation toward or away from a visual cue depending on its match to a remembered cue. Optogenetics screening identified V1, posterior parietal cortex (PPC), and retrosplenial cortex (RSC) as necessary for accurate decisions. Calcium imaging revealed neurons that can mediate rapid navigation switches by encoding a mixture of a current and remembered visual cue. These mixed selectivity neurons emerged through task learning and predicted the mouse’s choices by forming efficient population codes before correct, but not incorrect, choices. They were distributed across posterior cortex, even V1, and were densest in RSC and sparsest in PPC. We propose flexibility in navigation decisions arises from neurons that mix visual and memory information within a visual-parietal-retrosplenial network.

Mind Reading from a Single Neuron! (Audio recommended)
Example trial with neural recording from a parietal neuron. After the monkey’s eye position (yellow dot) fixates on the central white dot, two red choice targets appear, with the left target in the neuron’s Response Field. Shapes appear sequentially until the monkey initiates a saccade. Action potentials are indicated by audible clicks and tick marks above the graph, which displays cumulative evidence associated with each new shape (white horizontal line segments).
In the 1st movie, the cumulative evidence initially fluctuates around zero, then shifts toward the left target, reflected by increased neural firing as the monkey selects Tin. In the 2nd movie, the cumulative evidence initially favored the left target but then reversed to favor the right target. Reflecting this pattern, the firing rate increased initially but then diminished until the monkey chose the right target.

Dissertation

Department of Psychology

Florida State University

1107 W Call Street, Tallahassee, FL 32304

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