Neuromatch Academy: Teaching Computational Neuroscience with Global Accessibility

Neuromatch Academy (NMA) designed and ran a fully online 3-week Computational Neuroscience Summer School for 1757 students with 191 teaching assistants (TAs) working in virtual inverted (or flipped) classrooms and on small group projects. Fourteen languages, active community management, and low cost allowed for an unprecedented level of inclusivity and universal accessibility

Pattern and Component Motion Responses in Mouse Visual Cortical Areas

© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. Spanning about 9mm2 of the posterior cortex surface, the mouse's small but organized visual cortex has recently gained attention for its surprising sophistication and experimental tractability [1-3]. Though it lacks the highly ordered orientation columns of primates [4], mouse visual cortex is organized retinotopically [5] and contains at least ten extrastriate areas that likely integrate more complex visual features via dorsal and ventral streams of processing [6-14]. Extending our understanding of visual perception to the mouse model is justified by the evolving ability to interrogate specific neural circuits using genetic and molecular techniques [15, 16]. In order to probe the functional properties of the putative mouse dorsal stream, we used moving plaids, which demonstrate differences between cells that identify local motion (component cells) and those that integrate global motion of the plaid (pattern cells; Figure1A; [17]). In primates, there are sparse pattern cell responses in primate V1 [18, 19], but many more in higher-order regions; 25%-30% of cells in MT [17] and 40%-60% in MST [20] are pattern direction selective. We present evidence that mice have small numbers of pattern cells in areas LM and RL, while V1, AL, and AM are largely component-like. Although the proportion of pattern cells is smaller in mouse visual cortex than in primate MT, this study provides evidence that the organization of the mouse visual system shares important similarities to that of primates and opens the possibility of using mice to probe motion computation mechanisms. Juavinett etal. expand on the growing interest of the mouse as a model for visual neuroscience, demonstrating that cells in two areas of mouse visual cortex can compute the global motion of a plaid. The report of these pattern direction cells in areas LM and RL, but not V1, AL, or AM, further delineates dorsal and ventral streams in the mouse

Pattern and Component Motion Responses in Mouse Visual Cortical Areas

SummarySpanning about 9 mm2 of the posterior cortex surface, the mouse’s small but organized visual cortex has recently gained attention for its surprising sophistication and experimental tractability [1–3]. Though it lacks the highly ordered orientation columns of primates [4], mouse visual cortex is organized retinotopically [5] and contains at least ten extrastriate areas that likely integrate more complex visual features via dorsal and ventral streams of processing [6–14]. Extending our understanding of visual perception to the mouse model is justified by the evolving ability to interrogate specific neural circuits using genetic and molecular techniques [15, 16]. In order to probe the functional properties of the putative mouse dorsal stream, we used moving plaids, which demonstrate differences between cells that identify local motion (component cells) and those that integrate global motion of the plaid (pattern cells; Figure 1A; [17]). In primates, there are sparse pattern cell responses in primate V1 [18, 19], but many more in higher-order regions; 25%–30% of cells in MT [17] and 40%–60% in MST [20] are pattern direction selective. We present evidence that mice have small numbers of pattern cells in areas LM and RL, while V1, AL, and AM are largely component-like. Although the proportion of pattern cells is smaller in mouse visual cortex than in primate MT, this study provides evidence that the organization of the mouse visual system shares important similarities to that of primates and opens the possibility of using mice to probe motion computation mechanisms

The Dark Side of Rationality. Does Universal Moral Grammar Exist?

Over a century ago, psychoanalysis created an unprecedented challenge: to show that the effects of the unconscious are more powerful than those of consciousness. In an inverted scheme at present time, neurosciences challenge psychoanalysis with experimental and clinical models that are clarifying crucial aspects of the human mind. Freud himself loved to say that psychological facts do not fluctuate in the air and that perhaps one day, biologists and psychoanalysts would give a common explanation for psychic processes. Today, the rapid development of neuroimaging methods has ushered in a new season of research. Crucial questions are becoming more apparent. For instance, how can the brain generate conscious states? Does consciousness only involve limited area of the brain? These are insistent questions in a time where the tendency of neuroscience to naturalize our relationship life is ever more urgent. Consequently, these questions are also pressing: Does morality originate in the brain? Can we still say “being free” or freedom? Why does morality even exist? Lastly, is there a biologically founded universal morality? This paper will try to demonstrate how neurophysiology itself shows the implausibility of a universal morality

Stream-dependent development of higher visual cortical areas

Multiple cortical areas contribute to visual processing in mice. However, the functional organization and development of higher visual areas are unclear. Here, we used intrinsic signal optical imaging and 2-photon calcium imaging to map visual responses in adult and developing mice. We found that visually driven activity was well-correlated among higher visual areas within two distinct subnetworks resembling the dorsal and ventral visual streams. Visual response magnitude in dorsal stream areas slowly increased over the first two weeks of visual experience. By contrast, ventral stream areas exhibited strong responses shortly after eye opening. Neurons in a dorsal stream area showed little change in their tuning sharpness to oriented gratings while those in a ventral stream area increased stimulus selectivity and expanded their receptive fields significantly. Together, these findings provide a functional basis for grouping subnetworks of mouse visual areas and revealed stream differences in the development of receptive field properties