Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit University College London Carl van Vreeswijk Research Fellow

Research Interests:

My research focuses on the dynamics of large populations of neurons and on how these dynamical aspects influence computation in the brain. This research can be divided into three general areas:

I. Synchronization. The performance of circuits in the brain can change dramatically when the neurons in these circuits synchronize. Thus it is important to understand the mechanisms that lead to synchronization. In this work we investigate under what conditions populations of interacting neurons, evolve to a state in which there is an appreceable amount of synchrony.

II. Irregular Activity. Isolated neurons react very regularly when they are stimulated, whereas the activity of neurons in an intact brain show a large amount of variability. It is currently not well undestood how this comes about. The significance of this irregularity in neural computation is also unclear. We have developed a theory for the mechanism for this irregularity, and are investigating its functional implications.

III. Computational Circuits. The goal of this work is to study how a more sophisticated dynamical description of neuronal activity changes our understanding of the computations that cortical circuits are thought to perform. We have inverstigated how irregularity affects attractor network and visual column hyper-columns, and are studying a model of the different visual maps in the periform cortex.

Description of my Research

Selected Papers

Curriculum Vitae

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Contact Information:

Mail: Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit University College London 17 Queen Square, Room 504 London WC1N 3AR UK

Tel: Office   +44 (0) 171 391 1189 Fax     +44 (0) 171 391 1173 Email: carl@gatsby.ucl.ac.uk