Title

Navigating perceptual space with neural perturbations

Abstract

Local perturbation of neural activity in high-level visual cortical areas alters visual perception. Quantitative characterization of these perceptual alterations holds the key to understanding the mapping between patterns of neuronal activity and elements of perception. The complexity and subjectivity of these perceptual alterations makes them difficult to study. I introduce a new experimental approach, “Perceptography”, to develop “pictures” of the subjective experience induced by optogenetic cortical stimulation in the inferior temporal cortex of macaque monkeys.