Nerve signals for pattern vision

How does the rest of the brain process signals from the retina? How does it work out the structure of the outside world from these signals? In our laboratory we record the response of visually sensitive neurons in the brain to stimuli presented on a computer monitor. By measuring responses to different stimuli we can ask how neurons provide the signals necessary for pattern vision. We have recently found that early in the visual pathway (in the retina and lateral geniculate nucleus, LGN), neurons are much more sensitive to the extent and structure of patterns than was previously thought, but we do not yet know how this is important. Students working on this project would help measure and analyse responses of LGN neurons to elucidate the signals that they provide.

Supervisor: Dr Samuel Solomon
Sesquicentenary Lecturer in Cognitive Neuroscience,

NH&MRC CJ Martin Fellow

Address: Discipline of Physiology, Room E501, Anderson Stuart Bldg

Email: samuels@physiol.usyd.edu.au
Web: http://www.physiol.usyd.edu.au/span/samuels/