Neuronal Activities in the Mouse Visual Cortex Predict Patterns of Sensory Stimuli

Visual cortex forms the basis of visual processing and plays important roles in visual encoding. By using the recently published Allen Brain Observatory dataset consisting of large-scale calcium imaging of mouse V1 activities under visual stimuli, we were able to obtain high-quality data capturing simultaneous neuronal activities at multiple sub-areas and cortical depths of V1. Using prediction models, we analyzed the activity profiles related to static and drifting grating stimuli. We conducted a comprehensive survey of the coding ability of multiple cortical locations toward different stimulus attributes. Specifically, we focused on orientations and spatial frequencies (for static stimuli), as well as moving directions and speed (for drifting stimuli). By using results produced from a prediction model, we quantified the decoding performance profile at different sub-areas and layers of V1. In addition, we analyzed the interactions and interference between different stimulus attributes. The insights obtained from these discoveries would contribute to more precise and quantitative understanding of V1 coding mechanisms.

[1]  Ikuya Murakami,et al.  Visual motion detection sensitivity is enhanced by an orthogonal motion aftereffect. , 2010, Journal of vision.

[2]  C Kayser,et al.  Do We Know What the Early Visual System Computes , 2007 .

[3]  Shuiwang Ji.  Computational genetic neuroanatomy of the developing mouse brain: dimensionality reduction, visualization, and clustering , 2013, BMC Bioinformatics.

[4]  Michael Guerzhoy,et al.  Deep Neural Networks , 2013 .

[5]  G. Orban,et al.  Activity of inferior temporal neurons during orientation discrimination with successively presented gratings. , 1994, Journal of neurophysiology.

[6]  Ha Hong,et al.  Performance-optimized hierarchical models predict neural responses in higher visual cortex , 2014, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[7]  Shuiwang Ji,et al.  Computational network analysis of the anatomical and genetic organizations in the mouse brain , 2011, Bioinform..

[8]  Hanchuan Peng,et al.  Global analysis of gene expression and projection target correlations in the mouse brain , 2015, Brain Informatics.

[9]  Shuiwang Ji,et al.  Integrative analysis of the connectivity and gene expression atlases in the mouse brain , 2014, NeuroImage.

[10]  Guigang Zhang,et al.  Deep Learning , 2016, Int. J. Semantic Comput..

[11]  P. Schiller,et al.  Quantitative studies of single-cell properties in monkey striate cortex. II. Orientation specificity and ocular dominance. , 1976, Journal of neurophysiology.

[12]  Leon French,et al.  Relationships between Gene Expression and Brain Wiring in the Adult Rodent Brain , 2011, PLoS Comput. Biol..

[13]  Gal Chechik,et al.  On Expression Patterns and Developmental Origin of Human Brain Regions , 2016, PLoS Comput. Biol..

[14]  Shuiwang Ji,et al.  High-resolution prediction of mouse brain connectivity using gene expression patterns. , 2015, Methods.

[15]  J. Serences,et al.  Attention Improves Transfer of Motion Information between V1 and MT , 2014, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[16]  Cristopher M. Niell,et al.  Exploring the Next Frontier of Mouse Vision , 2011, Neuron.

[17]  James H. Marshel,et al.  Functional Specialization of Seven Mouse Visual Cortical Areas , 2011, Neuron.

[18]  Martin Nilsson Jacobi,et al.  Hierarchical Organization in , 2005 .

[19]  C. Stosiek,et al.  In vivo two-photon calcium imaging of neuronal networks , 2003, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[20]  Ian Nauhaus,et al.  Topography and Areal Organization of Mouse Visual Cortex , 2014, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[21]  J. Gallant,et al.  Natural Stimulus Statistics Alter the Receptive Field Structure of V1 Neurons , 2004, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[22]  M. Sur,et al.  Orientation Maps of Subjective Contours in Visual Cortex , 1996, Science.

[23]  W. Singer,et al.  Stimulus-specific neuronal oscillations in orientation columns of cat visual cortex. , 1989, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[24]  Roded Sharan,et al.  Gene Expression in the Rodent Brain is Associated with Its Regional Connectivity , 2011, PLoS Comput. Biol..

[25]  M. Carandini,et al.  Integration of visual motion and locomotion in mouse visual cortex , 2013, Nature Neuroscience.

[26]  Gal Chechik,et al.  Specialization of Gene Expression during Mouse Brain Development , 2012, PLoS Comput. Biol..

[27]  T. Albright.  Direction and orientation selectivity of neurons in visual area MT of the macaque. , 1984, Journal of neurophysiology.

[28]  Allan R. Jones,et al.  A mesoscale connectome of the mouse brain , 2014, Nature.

[29]  Ning Qian,et al.  Comparison among some models of orientation selectivity. , 2006, Journal of neurophysiology.

[30]  R. Lund,et al.  Receptive field properties of single neurons in rat primary visual cortex. , 1999, Journal of neurophysiology.

[31]  A L Pearlman,et al.  Laminar distribution of receptive field properties in the primary visual cortex of the mouse , 1980, The Journal of comparative neurology.

[32]  Á. Pascual-Leone,et al.  Fast Backprojections from the Motion to the Primary Visual Area Necessary for Visual Awareness , 2001, Science.

[33]  Thomas Serre,et al.  Object recognition with features inspired by visual cortex , 2005, 2005 IEEE Computer Society Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR'05).

[34]  D. Hubel,et al.  Receptive fields and functional architecture of monkey striate cortex , 1968, The Journal of physiology.

[35]  Daniel L. K. Yamins,et al.  Deep Neural Networks Rival the Representation of Primate IT Cortex for Core Visual Object Recognition , 2014, PLoS Comput. Biol..

[36]  Ryan M. Rifkin,et al.  In Defense of One-Vs-All Classification , 2004, J. Mach. Learn. Res..

[37]  A. Burkhalter,et al.  Hierarchical organization of areas in rat visual cortex , 1993, The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience.

[38]  Yongdong Zhang,et al.  A Highly Parallel Framework for HEVC Coding Unit Partitioning Tree Decision on Many-core Processors , 2014, IEEE Signal Processing Letters.

[39]  Gal Chechik,et al.  Localizing Genes to Cerebellar Layers by Classifying ISH Images , 2012, PLoS Comput. Biol..

[40]  Demetris K. Roumis,et al.  Functional Specialization of Mouse Higher Visual Cortical Areas , 2011, Neuron.

[41]  F. Tong,et al.  Decoding the visual and subjective contents of the human brain , 2005, Nature Neuroscience.

[42]  R. Desimone,et al.  Neural mechanisms of spatial selective attention in areas V1, V2, and V4 of macaque visual cortex. , 1997, Journal of neurophysiology.

[43]  Geoffrey E. Hinton,et al.  Visualizing Data using t-SNE , 2008 .

[44]  Geoffrey E. Hinton,et al.  Stochastic Neighbor Embedding , 2002, NIPS.

[45]  G. Rees,et al.  Predicting the orientation of invisible stimuli from activity in human primary visual cortex , 2005, Nature Neuroscience.

[46]  David L. Sheinberg,et al.  Visual object recognition. , 1996, Annual review of neuroscience.

[47]  David S. Greenberg,et al.  Population imaging of ongoing neuronal activity in the visual cortex of awake rats , 2008, Nature Neuroscience.

[48]  Nicole C. Rust,et al.  Selectivity and Tolerance (“Invariance”) Both Increase as Visual Information Propagates from Cortical Area V4 to IT , 2010, The Journal of Neuroscience.