Flexible network dynamics as a basis for temporal computations in the cortex – MORSE ERC

Time is an essential dimension of sensory reality, and plays a central role in cognitive phenomena such as auditory communication and speech perception. Our understanding of how the brain processes temporal information is however in its infancy. The aim of this project is to determine the cortical mechanisms of temporal computations such as interpreting sequences of the Morse code.

Networks of excitatory and inhibitory neurons form the basic computational units in the mammalian cortex. How the dynamics of activity in such networks process temporal information is an outstanding open question, which this project will address. The project will be based on my recent finding that model networks of excitatory and inhibitory neurons can flexibly switch between two different types of asynchronous activity. These two different dynamical regimes can serve as substrates for two different types of temporal processing: transmission and discrimination of temporal stimuli. The central hypothesis in this project will be that such flexible network dynamics provide the basis for task-dependent temporal computations in the cortex.

In the first part of the project, I will develop a theoretical framework for temporal computations based on flexible network dynamics. In particular, I will determine the network mechanisms underlying computations on Morse-like stimuli, study the underlying learning and plasticity processes, and examine the fundamental computational limits of these mechanisms. In a second part of this project, I will test experimentally the predicted mechanisms using electrophysiological and optical recordings in awake behaving animals. To this end, collaborations with top experimental labs have been developed.

This project will combine a new theoretical paradigm with state-of-the art neurophysiology techniques to contribute to a breakthrough in our understanding of fundamental cognitive processes such as speech perception and their impairment in various diseases.