Presenter(s): Raj Shah—Human Physiology
Faculty Mentor(s): Santiago Jaramillo, Beth McCarry
Session 5: The Wonders of the Brain
In vivo two-photon calcium imaging is a powerful tool that enables measuring activity of hundreds of individual neurons simultaneously . To understand how the brain makes predictions about sounds, we will use this imaging technique to measure how neurons from the auditory cortex of awake mice respond to expected and unexpected sounds . To image activity at the neuronal level, optical access is achieved via implantation of a cranial window . However, the auditory cortex is not easily accessible during surgery due its lateral location and large muscles and arteries around the ears . Here, we report an updated protocol for cranial window implantation over the auditory cortex for use in two-photon calcium imaging . With optical access to the auditory cortex, we are able to use in-vivo two-photon calcium imaging to evaluate sound-evoked responses of hundreds of auditory cortical neurons . These data will allow classifying and mapping the location of neurons that represent either predictions about a stimulus or errors in these predictions .