BRAINSENSE

Multisensory processing in cortical networks underlying the formation of supramodal percepts

Coordinatore	CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE    more  Organization address address: Rue Michel -Ange 3 city: PARIS postcode: 75794 contact info Titolo: Mrs. Nome: Véronique Cognome: Debisschop Email: send email Telefono: +33 1 69823264 Fax: +33 1 69823333
Nazionalità Coordinatore	France [FR]
Totale costo	75˙000 €
EC contributo	75˙000 €
Programma	FP7-PEOPLE Specific programme "People" implementing the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities (2007 to 2013)
Code Call	FP7-PEOPLE-2012-CIG
Funding Scheme	MC-CIG
Anno di inizio	2013
Periodo (anno-mese-giorno)	2013-11-01   -   2016-10-31

 Partecipanti

#	participant	country	role	EC contrib. [€]
1	CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE  Organization address address: Rue Michel -Ange 3 city: PARIS postcode: 75794 contact info Titolo: Mrs. Nome: Véronique Cognome: Debisschop Email: send email Telefono: +33 1 69823264 Fax: +33 1 69823333	FR (PARIS)	coordinator	75˙000.00

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'The neocortex underlies higher cognitive functions in mammals and humans. Its computational function is essential for categorizing external objects into supramodal percepts. This natural categorization depends on multisensory integration to become largely independent of the modality through which relevant input is acquired. In contrast, this remarkable cognitive ability is poorly emulated by artificial systems. The anatomical cortical architecture shows extensive connectivity across its different sensory areas, departing from the classically assumed hierarchical processing scheme. Recent studies demonstrated that primary sensory cortical areas coding for distinct modalities are already interconnected, but the computational role of these heteromodal connections is unknown. My goal is to test whether heteromodal interactions in primary sensory cortical areas transmit inferences about the identity of behaviorally relevant objects perceived across multiple sensory channels. The working hypothesis is that these interactions modify the primary representation of unimodal sensory stimuli, resulting in supramodal perceptual invariance, even in ambiguous unimodal contexts. This study will be carried out in awake behaving rodents trained to discriminate between two multimodal objects, which require the two sensory modalities to be fully distinguished. State-of-the art techniques (two-photon calcium imaging and multisite electrode arrays) to record from large scale neural assemblies, will be combined with modern analysis of neural population dynamics and network simulations. Underlying mechanisms will be explored by optogenetic targeting of specific neuronal populations. My long-term aim is to quantitatively explain encoding and classification of multisensory cues across primary sensory cortical areas. I hope to derive novel generic computational principles by which brain circuits build invariant representations of the environment from ever-changing multisensory input streams.'