Hamutal Slovin Lab
Neuronal Imaging Laboratory - From visual processing to perception and artificial vision
Our research is dedicated to uncovering the neural circuits and neural mechanisms underlying visual perception and visual processing. Using voltage-sensitive dye imaging and additional cutting-edge technologies we aim at decoding and reconstruction of visual content from brain activity of behaving animals. We investigate artificial vision in the primary visual cortex using electrical microstimulation and optostimulation of neuronal population.
Our long-term goals are to provide novel insights into perceptually guided behavior, facilitate the development of a useful cortical visual neuroprosthesis, and improve the treatment of visually impaired subjects.
In the media:
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Top-down and extra-retinal influences in the visual cortex revealed by voltage-sensitive dye imaging in behaving monkeys: Symposium in memory of Prof. Amiram Grinvald, Israel Academy of Science.
Link to the recorded lecture 2023
News
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Invited speaker in IGSN symposium: Behavior and Brain Dynamics – Measurements and Stimulation with light. March 2024, Bochum, Germany
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Speaker at the Israel Visual Science Society (IVSS) Conference, 2023
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Invited speaker at the symposium in memory of Prof. Amiram Grinvald, Israel Academy of Science, 15 June 2023 Link to the recorded symposium
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Invited speaker at VSS Symposia: "The Active Fovea". Lecture title: "A two-phase extraretinal input into monkey's V1: the effect of fixational saccades on population Response". In: Vision Science Society (VSS) Conference, May 2023, St. Pete. Florida, USA.
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Invited speaker at "Active Vision" Symposium. Lecture title: "The effects of fixational eye movements on population responses in V1 of monkeys: from instability of visual processing to extraretinal input." In: the 32nd CVS Symposium May 2022, Rochester NY, USA.
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Invited speaker, lecture title: "Processing shapes and surfaces: insights from the visual cortex of monkeys and mice". In: "Plasticity and dynamics in the visual system connecting genes cells and circuits" conference, May 2022, Weizmann Institute, Israel.
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Invited speaker at "Active Sensing" ISFN session. Lecture title: "Fixational eye movements and their influence on visual and perceptual processing". In: 28th ISFN annual meeting, January 2020, Eilat, Israel.
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Invited speaker, lecture title: "Neural mechanisms of visual processing and microstimulation in V1. In: "Causal Approaches in Neuroscience", 7th ESI System Neuroscience conference, August 2020, Frankfurt, Germany.
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Invited speaker at SFN mini-symposium: "Advanced Circuit and Cellular Imaging Methods in Non-Human Primates". Lecture title: "Encoding and reconstruction of surfaces and contours from V1 of behaving monkeys". In: SFN annual conference, October 2019, Chicago, IL, USA.
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Invited speaker at "The Active Vision Workshop". Lecture title: "The visual image is not stable in V1: the effects of fixational eye movements". In: The Jerusalem Brain Community, November 2019, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.
Recent conferences
Research highlights
We are recruiting!
A new lab. paper 🎯 📢 with Dr. Shany Nivinsky Margalit 🏆: Encoding luminance surfaces in the visual cortex of mice and monkeys: difference in responses to edge and center.
In this work, we investigated the neural responses to luminance surfaces in the primary visual cortex of both mice and monkeys. Because mice have low visual acuity and lack a fovea, which differs from monkeys, it is unclear whether they share similar neural mechanisms to process surfaces. We found that in mice, the population response to the surface was not edge-dominated with a tendency to center dominance, whereas, in monkeys, the response was edge-dominated with a “hole” in the center of the surface. This is summarized in the visual abstract below.
