BMI Seminar // Keita Tamura: Optical deconstruction of primate visual cognition

When you see someone walking to you, you not only perceive physical features of the person but also evaluate its non-physical features e.g., whether you have seen that person before? A particular cortical area called perirhinal cortex is essential for such perceptual and cognitive processing of visual objects, but the underlying circuit mechanisms remain unclear. We previously applied optogenetics to macaque monkeys performing an object memory judgement task and found that activation of the perirhinal cortex induced monkeys to judge any presented object as “seen before” even if the monkeys had not seen that object before. This observation suggests that perirhinal cortex neurons outputs a semantic signal about memorised objects i.e., ‘familiarity’. To investigate the downstream circuits that guide perceptual and cognitive decision making about objects, my group has begun to study a small non-human primate, common marmoset, which is highly suited for the cutting-edge circuit-interrogation techniques like optical manipulation and measurements. In the seminar, I will discuss my previous works and current attempts to develop behavioural paradigms and wire-less neurophysiology techniques.