Visual Neuroscience
Visual neuroscience is an interdisciplinary field that
has made fundamental contributions to cellular, developmental,
and systems neuroscience. Although most of us take vision
for granted, in fact it arises from a complex network
of highly specialized neurons in both the retina and central
nervous system. The University of Minnesota has a large,
diverse vision research community, with strong representation
in many experimental approaches. Research efforts on the
retina include the study of retinal neurocircuitry, ion
channel function, synaptic transmission, glial cell physiology,
glial-neuronal interactions, development of the retina,
dendritic physiology. A new research emphasis has been
initiated to explore the possibility that stem cells can
be used to replace lost or deficient cell types in the
retina. Studies of ocular muscle function and organization
are also part of our experimental repertoire. The study
of eye movements is being used to explore fundamental
issues of sensory motor integration. The study of central
visual pathways through functional imaging and electrophysiology
is being used to explore issues in systems neuroscience
including the development and plasticity of neural circuits
and the neural coding of information. A number of faculty
also study higher visual processing and use psychophysical,
computational, and physiological approaches to explore
the neural basis of perception, learning, and attention. |
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