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Pattern Formation Theory and the Development of the Visual System

Pattern Formation Theory and the Development of the Visual System

Start: 
Friday, February 14, 2025 12:00 pm
End: 
Friday, February 14, 2025 12:50 pm
Location: 
STAG 111
Andrew Oster
Eastern Washington University

n this talk, I will give an overview of the biology associated with the functional structure of the primary visual cortex (V1) and introduce a classical activity-dependent model for the strength of left eye/ right eye inputs. Activity-dependent competition results in the formation of ocular dominance (OD) stripes (stripe-like cortical regions driven by a single eye). Mathematically the model simplifies to a partial integro-differential equation, and a stability analysis reveals a Turing instability that yields the formation of OD stripes.

I will extend the model to present a multi-layer, activity-dependent model for the joint development of ocular dominance (OD) stripes and cytochrome oxidase (CO) blobs. CO blobs are associated with color processing, respond to stimuli with low spatial frequency, and are distributed periodically along the center of OD stripes. Using a correlation-based Hebbian learning rule with subtractive normalization, we show how the formation of an OD map in lower laminae is inherited by upper laminae via vertical projections. Competition between these feedforward projections and direct thalamic input results in the formation of CO blobs superimposed upon the OD map. The resulting CO blob distribution is shown to be consistent with experimental data with the blobs aligned in the center of the OD stripes.