Plasticity of visual information processing and the consequences of neurodevelopmental disorders

The ultimate goal of much neuroscience research is to link the responses of individual neurons or populations of neurons with perceptual capabilities and behavioural outcomes.

Recent advances in functional brain imaging at the cellular and subcellular levels are now allowing us to approach this goal in an unprecedented manner. In this project we will apply two-photon imaging of calcium signals to examine fundamental questions of how higher cortical areas are wired during development and how this process goes awry in neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric disorders.

First we will examine how an early defect of vision in one eye affects higher visual function in the long term. In humans, such an early developmental disadvantage of one eye relative to the other causes a condition known as ’lazy eye’. Most of the research into the underlying mechanisms has focused on the primary visual cortex (V1), despite the well-recognised fact that the extent of abnormalities in V1 cannot account for the much greater deficits in visual performance. The cutting-edge techniques in use in our lab will enable the student to investigate visual stimulus-evoked activity in higher visual areas of mice while these are carrying out visual discrimination tasks.

For more information on this project, please see the following link: https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/research/programmes/project/plasticity-of-visual-information-processing-and-the-consequences-of-neurodevelopmental-disorders