Gilles Laurent: Transient Dynamics in Neuronal Networks: Experimental Evidence

Transient Dynamics in Neuronal Networks: Experimental Evidence

Gilles Laurent, Director of the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research Frankfurt

This talk will mainly examine neural population dynamics, drawing from our past and present work on three different systems and animal species: the olfactory system of an insect (sensory), the camouflage system of a cephalopod (sensory and motor) and the cerebral cortex of a reptile (cortical). The identification of common features in the dynamics of such distant and different neural systems reveals the existence of a hidden order in neural activity, and suggests the existence of common principles of neural population behavior. Our work on reptilian cortex also provides experimental support for the deterministic propagation of activity along chains of connected neurons, whose identity and activation order depends on the initiating event.

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