The cerebral cortex, a substrate for information processing in high dimensional dynamic state space.

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Wolf Singer
• Subject Area: Cognitive, Systems and Behavioural Neurobiology
• Term: from 2017 to 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 325248489

An important function of the cerebral cortex is to compare incoming signals with stored knowledge and to classify the result of this matching process. The mechanisms underlying these functions are still unresolved. Unresolved is also the question whether the dynamics of the system, characterized by oscillations and synchronization phenomena play a role in these functions. The proposed project aims at the experimental validation of a hypothesis that would resolve some of these questions within a unifying framework. The core of the hypothesis is that knowledge is stored in the weight distribution of the myriads of recurrent connections and expressed in the high dimensional dynamic state of the recurrent network. Comparison with input signals would consist of a selection of low dimensional substates that are amenable to classification. Simultaneous long-term recordings will be obtained from a large number of neurons in the visual cortex of monkeys while these perform cognitive tasks. The resulting high dimensional time series will be analysed with machine learning techniques and mathematical methods for the description of non-linear dynamic systems and correlated with the animals´ behavior.

• DFG Programme: Reinhart Koselleck Projects