Circuits underlying sparse population coding in the auditory cortex (B18)

• Subject Area: Molecular Biology and Physiology of Neurons and Glial Cells ; Cognitive, Systems and Behavioural Neurobiology
• Term: from 2014 to 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 118803580

During the preceding funding period we verified the controversial suggestion that the frequency organization of mouse primary auditory cortex is heterogeneous throughout all layers, and furthermore identified a subset of 'super-responding' neurons in all layers. The current project will test the hypothesis that an interplay of homogeneous excitation and locally heterogeneous inhibition sculpts the response fields of pyramidal neurons, creating the heterogeneous landscape of neuronal responses, and that the super-responding neurons dotting this landscape form a special class of neurons with input-output relationships that are different from those of their neighbors.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• Subproject of: SFB 870: Assembly and Function of Neuronal Circuits in Sensory Processing
• International Connection: Israel
• Applicant Institution: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
• Project Heads: Professor Dr. Arthur Konnerth; Professor Israel Nelken, Ph.D.