Behtash Babadi

Sequential transmission of task-relevant information in cortical neuronal networks

Cell Reports · 2022 · 59 citations

Cortical processing of task-relevant information enables recognition of behaviorally meaningful sensory events. It is unclear how task-related information is represented within cortical networks by the activity of individual neurons and their functional interactions. Here, we use two-photon imaging to record neuronal activity from the primary auditory cortex of mice during a pure-tone discrimination task. We find that a subset of neurons transiently encode sensory information used to inform beha…

Direct extraction of signal and noise correlations from two-photon calcium imaging of ensemble neuronal activity

eLife · 2021 · 33 citations

Neuronal activity correlations are key to understanding how populations of neurons collectively encode information. While two-photon calcium imaging has created a unique opportunity to record the activity of large populations of neurons, existing methods for inferring correlations from these data face several challenges. First, the observations of spiking activity produced by two-photon imaging are temporally blurred and noisy. Secondly, even if the spiking data were perfectly recovered via deco…

Neuro-current response functions: A unified approach to MEG source analysis under the continuous stimuli paradigm

NeuroImage · 2020 · 20 citations

Characterizing the neural dynamics underlying sensory processing is one of the central areas of investigation in systems and cognitive neuroscience. Neuroimaging techniques such as magnetoencephalography (MEG) and Electroencephalography (EEG) have provided significant insights into the neural processing of continuous stimuli, such as speech, thanks to their high temporal resolution. Existing work in the context of auditory processing suggests that certain features of speech, such as the acoustic…

Time-dependent homeostatic mechanisms underlie brain-derived neurotrophic factor action on neural circuitry

Communications Biology · 2023-12-18 · 11 citations

Plasticity and homeostatic mechanisms allow neural networks to maintain proper function while responding to physiological challenges. Despite previous work investigating morphological and synaptic effects of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), the most prevalent growth factor in the central nervous system, how exposure to BDNF manifests at the network level remains unknown. Here we report that BDNF treatment affects rodent hippocampal network dynamics during development and recovery from g…

Behavioural relevance of redundant and synergistic stimulus information between functionally connected neurons in mouse auditory cortex

Brain Informatics · 2023-12-01 · 11 citations

Measures of functional connectivity have played a central role in advancing our understanding of how information is transmitted and processed within the brain. Traditionally, these studies have focused on identifying redundant functional connectivity, which involves determining when activity is similar across different sites or neurons. However, recent research has highlighted the importance of also identifying synergistic connectivity-that is, connectivity that gives rise to information not con…