DYNAMICS OF MUTUAL INHIBITION CIRCUIT
When you experience bi-stable perception, the image is not changing but your perception is. How does it happen? It has been assumed that there is a pair of neuron groups representing the competing percept, and the two groups inhibit each other. This neural circuit, called mutual inhibition (figure left), is the topic of this project. I investigate the dynamics of this circuit. I do it by using real neurons connected by a computerized system (called dynamic clamp). It means a neuron A and neuron B are connected by computer modeled synapses so that they inhibit each other. I discovered that with this connection established, the two neurons start to show bi-stable activities when they both are activated.
We compare the dynamics of the bi-stable activity with the known dynamics of bi-stable perception.
This work has been published now in Journal of Neuroscience.
https://www.jneurosci.org/content/41/6/1251
https://twitter.com/SfNJournals/status/1366343963062460416