A burst-dependent thalamocortical substrate for perceptual awareness | PLOS Computational Biology
Author summary Computational models of perceptual awareness lack neurobiological grounding. Inspired by recent cellular recordings in a mouse model of tactile threshold detection, we developed a biophysical model of perceptual awareness incorporating key elements of the relevant mesoscale thalamocortical anatomy and cellular physiology. The model reproduced the key neural and behavioural signatures of perceptual awareness in the threshold detection task and the animal’s responses to causal perturbations of the thalamocortical circuit. We then generalised the same model to visual rivalry, an experimental paradigm typically used to study perceptual awareness in human and non-human primates. Analysis of the model based upon dynamical system theory revealed that the same thalamocortical mechanisms that governed perceptual awareness in threshold detection determined perceptual dominance in visual rivalry. Crucially, in addition to reproducing existing neural and behavioural findings, the model generates testable electrophysiological predictions.
A burst-dependent thalamocortical substrate for perceptual awareness | PLOS Computational Biology Article Authors Metrics Comments Media Coverage Peer Review Reader Comments Figures Figures Abstract Contemporary models of perceptual awareness lack tractable neurobiological constraints. Inspired by recent cellular recordings in a mouse model of tactile threshold detection, we constructed a biophysical model of perceptual awareness that incorporated essential features of thalamocortical anatomy and cellular physiology. Our model reproduced, and mechanistically explains, the key in vivo neural an
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