Salvatore Giancani_Poster_VSS 2024

VSS in May 2024 

Authors: Salvatore Giancani (1), Mohit Srivastava (1), Kevin Blaize (1), Sandrine Chemla (1), Matteo Di Volo (2), Anna Montagnini (1), Frederic Chavane (1)

1. Institut de Neurosciences de la Timone, Unit´e Mixte de Recherche 7289 Centre National
   de la Recherce Scientifique and Aix-Marseille Universit´e,
   Faculty of Medicine 27, Boulevard Jean Moulin, 13385 Marseille Cedex 05, France
2. Universit´e Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Institut National de la Sant´e et de la Recherche
   M´edicale, Stem Cell and Brain Research Institute U1208, Bron, France
   For all the 1 authors name.surname@univ-amu.fr

Abstract: It is still poorly understood how the visual system processes a simple stimulus moving along a trajectory. Any local, static, stimulus generates waves propagating in
V1 retinotopic maps (Muller et al 2014, 2018). As a consequence, when these local stimuli are presented in sequence, in different positions in space and/or time, they trigger a
complex cascade of embedded intra-cortical propagation waves that can shape the representation of the individual stimulus (Reynaud 2012, Chemla 2019). In this study, we employed
a spatio-temporal sequence of three strokes eliciting long-range apparent motion (AM) and
we measured the dynamic response of the V1 neural population in behaving macaques using voltage-sensitive dye imaging (VSDI). Expanding upon the findings of Chemla (2019),
our results demonstrate that, after the first two dots appear, the spatial profile of the response to the third dot is significantly modified compared to the single-stroke control. This
modification involves the facilitatory activation of the cortex ahead of motion direction and
suppression leading to the displacement of the peak of activity in the opposite direction.
Complex non-linear dynamical interactions are therefore changing the representation of the
individual strokes suggesting at the same time motion extrapolation and motion repulsion in
the retinotopic maps of V1. To explore this paradoxical phenomenon more comprehensively,
we complemented our observation with (i) computational modeling approach, to investigate
whether intra-cortical propagation of excitatory and inhibitory activity can explain this dual
effect, and with (ii) psychophysics in humans, to test how such stimulus affect the perceived
position of the last stroke of the same apparent motion stimulus.

Acknowledgements: This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon
2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sk lodowska-Curie grant agreement
N° 956669

References:

[1] Muller L, Reynaud A, Chavane F, Destexhe A. The stimulus-evoked population response
in visual cortex of awake monkey is a propagating wave. Nature communications. 2014
Apr 28;5(1):3675.
[2] Muller L, Chavane F, Reynolds J, Sejnowski TJ. Cortical travelling waves: mechanisms
and computational principles. Nature Reviews Neuroscience. 2018 May;19(5):255-68.
[3] Reynaud A, Masson GS, Chavane F. Dynamics of local input normalization result from
balanced short-and long-range intracortical interactions in area V1. Journal of neuroscience. 2012 Sep 5;32(36):12558-69.
[4] Chemla S, Reynaud A, Di Volo M, Zerlaut Y, Perrinet L, Destexhe A, Chavane F.
Suppressive traveling waves shape representations of illusory motion in primary visual
cortex of awake primate. Journal of Neuroscience. 2019 May 29;39(22):4282-98