A lecture given by:
Rafi Malach
Department of Neurobiology, Weizmann Institute of Science
On the topic of:
"Mapping a-priory biases in the human cerebral cortex"
June 6 2013
Abstract:
Human sensory perception is the product of both incoming signals and a-priory information. However, most brain imaging research focus on sensory activations in which these two types of information are entangled. In my talk I will propose that the recently described ultra-slow spontaneous fluctuations of BOLD-fMRI signals provide an opportunity to map such a-priory information separately from the incoming information. In support of the hypothesis I will present evidence that the spontaneous fluctuations reflect the cortical correlation structures that emerge under naturalistic sensory stimulation. Furthermore, they can be restructured in a Hebbian-like manner following intense cortical activation. Together these findings are compatible with the notion that the spontaneous fluctuations reflect the a-priory biases of human cortical connectivity -- opening the intriguing possibility that they may be used for mapping individual cognitive traits in health and disease.
