Analysis of Neuronal Dynamics in Behaving Animals

Citation

Pesaran, Bijan (2002) Analysis of Neuronal Dynamics in Behaving Animals. Dissertation (Ph.D.), California Institute of Technology. doi:10.7907/JQV4-Z245. https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechTHESIS:01262012-143944303

Abstract

This thesis presents a set of mathematical techniques for analyzing neural activity and then applies them to data from a variety of experiments. Imaging data, in which movies of brain activity are recorded, is considered first and ways to suppress noise and characterize the signal are explored. Data from the cortex of behaving monkeys is then considered. These techniques are used to analyze the activity of populations of neurons during eye movements. Oscillations are found that encode information predicting "where" and "when" an eye movement is made. Activity in other parts of the brain involved in reaching and the perception of motion are then analyzed and shown to encode other information in a similar way. These results show neuronal dynamics may be used by the brain to process information during behavior.

Thesis Files