“Single neurons in the human medial temporal lobe: Hierarchical processing and domain specificity”
Event details
| Date | 22.03.2010 |
| Hour | 12:15 |
| Speaker | Dr. Florian Mormann, University of Bonn, Department of Epileptology, Germany |
| Location |
AI 1-153
|
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
Neurons in the temporal lobe of both monkeys and humans show selective responses to classes of visual stimuli and even to specific individuals. We investigated the latency and selectivity of visually responsive neurons recorded from microelectrodes in the parahippocampal cortex, entorhinal cortex, hippocampus, and amygdala of human subjects during a visual object presentation task. We found direct evidence for hierarchical processing of sensory information at the interface between the visual pathway and the limbic system, by which increasingly refined and specific representations of stimulus identity are generated over time along the anatomic pathways of the medial temporal lobe.
In an investigation of regional preferences for certain stimulus categories, we found a preferential response of parahippocampal neurons to landmarks and outdoor scenes, presumably representing single-neuron correlates of the parahippocampal place area described in functional imaging studies. In addition, we demonstrate that single neurons in the right, but not the left, human amygdala respond preferentially to pictures of animals rather than persons, landmarks or objects. Moreover, animals and non-animals created distinguishable clusters in the population code of the right amygdala. The observed responses appeared to be domain-specific for the category of animals and were independent of emotional arousal or valence, a finding we replicated in an independent neuroimaging study. Our combined electrophysiological and neuroimaging results demonstrate a previously unknown role of the right amygdala in processing animals that could reflect the broad ancestral significance of this stimulus category.
Practical information
- General public
- Free
Contact
- Christiane Debono