Objective
One of the most fascinating findings at the level of single neurons are place cells that encode the spatial position of the rodent relative to external environmental cues by means of the cell's firing rate.
In the 1990s, Fried and collaborators at UCLA Medical School developed techniques to chronically record single unit activity in awake patients undergoing pre-surgical epilepsy diagnostics prior to respective surgery. Such recordings have provided evidence for a homologue of rodent place cells in humans per forming a navigational task.
In another study, cells were found in the human medial temporal lobe that responded specifically and invariantly to different pictures of the same famous person. The sparseness, degree of invariance and temporal dynamics of the firing behaviour of these cells is reminiscent of rodent place cells.
The aim of the proposed project is to test the hypothesis that such invariant neurons represent a generalized, cognitive version of rodent place cells responding explicitly to the concet of an object or individual rather than to certain of its features. These neurons may be part of an attractor network.
After identifying targets, e.g. a famous person that evokes a specific and invariant response in a neuron, using a novel spike sorting algorithm we will show patients short movies in which the face of one individual the cells does not respond to is gradually morphed into the face of an individual to which the cell responds to (and vice versa). In this way we want to create a situation that corresponds to that of a place cell in a rat upon approaching a place field.
Using wavelet-based time frequency analysis, we will assess underlying coding mechanisms in terms of firing rate, relation to the phase of local theta activity and oscillatory interaction with particular respect to theta-gamma modulation.
We intend to compare our results to related findings from the very active rodent literature and against different attractor neural network models.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- medical and health sciences basic medicine neurology epilepsy
- social sciences media and communications graphic design
- medical and health sciences clinical medicine surgery
- humanities arts modern and contemporary art cinematography
- natural sciences computer and information sciences artificial intelligence computational intelligence
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
FP6-2005-MOBILITY-6
See other projects for this call
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
OIF - Marie Curie actions-Outgoing International Fellowships
Coordinator
BONN
Germany
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.