Neural mechanisms for integrating vision and internal state
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- Understanding how the brain integrates sensory information about the outside world with internal processes is a central goal in neuroscience. Vision is the sense humans rely on most to navigate the world and survive. When confronted with a threat, vision provides a fast and reliable source of information essential to avoiding danger. The field of visual neuroscience as a whole has made tremendous progress in dissecting how visual percepts are processed at many levels, from photoreception at the level of the retina all the way up to the neural-networks that govern object and face perception. However, where and how visual information is merged with information about internal state remains unclear. In this dissertation, I address this question using viral-based techniques, in vivo electrophysiology, calcium imaging, and behavioral experiments. This work is divided into four sections. (1) I discuss how recent advances due to emerging technology have demonstrated that vision, even in early visual processing centers, is highly influenced by state-dependent processes. In addition, I explore proposed routes by which affective information is merged with visual information. (2) I demonstrate that a group of thalamic nuclei within the ventral midline thalamus combines information about vision and state in order to bias behavioral decisions under threat scenarios. (3) I examine the role of a ventral visual thalamic nucleus that encodes environmental light and modulates state-dependent behavioral responses. (4) I reveal thalamo-thalamo connections between this ventral visual thalamic nucleus and the midline thalamic nuclei and discuss outstanding questions about the role of this pathway in guiding adaptive behaviors. Together these results advance our understanding of how vision and state is integrated in the brain which may have implications for how these processes may be disrupted in disorders such as PTSD and anxiety.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic resource; remote; computer; online resource |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Place | California |
| Place | [Stanford, California] |
| Publisher | [Stanford University] |
| Copyright date | 2019; ©2019 |
| Publication date | 2019; 2019 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Author | Salay, Lindsey Diane |
|---|---|
| Degree supervisor | Huberman, Andrew |
| Thesis advisor | Huberman, Andrew |
| Thesis advisor | Clandinin, Thomas R. (Thomas Robert), 1970- |
| Thesis advisor | Luo, Liqun, 1966- |
| Thesis advisor | Shah, Nirao |
| Degree committee member | Clandinin, Thomas R. (Thomas Robert), 1970- |
| Degree committee member | Luo, Liqun, 1966- |
| Degree committee member | Shah, Nirao |
| Associated with | Stanford University, Neurosciences Program. |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|---|
| Genre | Text |
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Lindsey Diane Salay. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Neurosciences Program. |
| Thesis | Thesis Ph.D. Stanford University 2019. |
| Location | electronic resource |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2019 by Lindsey Diane Salay
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
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