World Wide Neuro | Sussex Vision Series - 25/10/2021 - Prof. Pieter Roelfsema
Channel: BadenLab
Date: 25/10/2021

World Wide Neuro (https://www.worldwideneuro.com/) is a new and ongoing effort to continue, expand and democratise neuroscience seminars.

World Wide Neighbours (https://www.world-wide.org/neighbors/) a new platform to disseminate listings from both employers and job seekers.

Today, we are delighted to host Prof. Pieter Roelfsema from Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience:

Interactions between visual cortical neurons that give rise to conscious perception

I will discuss the mechanisms that determine whether a weak visual stimulus will reach consciousness or not. If the stimulus is simple, early visual cortex acts as a relay station that sends the information to higher visual areas. If the stimulus arrives at a minimal strength, it will be stored in working memory and can be reported. However, during more complex visual perceptions, which for example depend on the segregation of a figure from the background, early visual cortex’ role goes beyond a simply relay. It now acts as a cognitive blackboard and conscious perception depends on it. Our results inspire new approaches to create a visual prosthesis for the blind, by creating a direct interface with the visual brain. I will discuss how high-channel-number interfaces with the visual cortex might be used to restore a rudimentary form of vision in blind individuals.