An investigation of rest-stimulus interactions in mesoscale cortical networks

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Traditionally investigations into brain function have focused on purely task-evoked responses. However, we know the brain exists in a state of profound constant activity even in the absence of active behaviours or sensory stimulation. The central goal of this proposal is to investigate how resting-state or spontaneous brain activity actively contributes to how we process sensory information with the longer-term goals of understanding these processes in the context of perception and behaviour. Understanding these rest-stimulus interactions are essential for determining how we process sensory information in `real world' conditions that are not reflected in idealized, signal averaged laboratory environments. This research program employs leading-edge neuroimaging approaches using light to monitor brain. Importantly, this approach allows for functional imaging of nearly the entire surface of the brain in mice and thus allows us to capture the electrical activity of large-scale brain networks related resting-states and sensory processing. This is essential for understanding rest-stimulus interactions as we now know that the brain operates in distinct modules of activity that are distributed across brain regions. These distributed modules are known to actively regulate sensory processing. Thus, in order to truly understand rest-stimulus interactions we must be able to monitor the distributed organization of this activity. I will examine the large-scale functional organization and activity of sensory activation related to touch, vision, and audition with ongoing spontaneous brain activity. By selectively manipulating spontaneous brain activity, I will determine how this activity changes how we process sensory information. Lastly, I will investigate how the reverse of this relationship is also true. That is, sensory stimulation can modify spontaneous brain activity with implications on how our brains adapt to optimize to our changing sensory environment. This research program addresses a significant gap in our understanding of rest-stimulus interactions by bridging pioneering work from microscopic electrophysiological studies and global brain network changes. This research proposal will provide a deeper understanding of rest-stimulus interactions and their role in shaping our perception of sensory information and how we adapt to our changing sensory environment.