Psychology Colloquium: Professor David Heeger

Psychology Colloquium:  Professor David Heeger, NYU

Date: December 5, 2011

(Hosted by David Brainard)

Title:  Normalization as a canonical neural computation

Abstract: There is increasing evidence that the brain relies on a set
of canonical neural computations, repeating them across brain regions
and modalities to apply similar operations to different problems. A
promising candidate for such a computation is normalization, in which
the responses of neurons are divided by a common factor that typically
includes the summed activity of a pool of neurons. Normalization was
developed to explain responses in the primary visual cortex and is now
thought to operate throughout the visual system, and in many other
sensory modalities and brain regions. Normalization may underlie
operations such as the representation of odours, the modulatory
effects of visual
attention, the encoding of value, and the integration of multisensory
information. Its presence in such a diversity of neural systems in
multiple species, from invertebrates to mammals, suggests that it
serves as a canonical neural computation. I will focus on the
normalization model of attention and experiments that test predictions
of the model using a combination of behavioral and neuroimaging methods.

3:30PM in Stiteler Hall room B21. Refreshments will be served at 3:00PM in Stiteler Hall's Silverstein Forum.