Parvalbumin-containing (PV+) neurons and somatostatin-containing (SOM+) neurons are two key cortical inhibitory cell classes that are poised to play distinct computational roles in cortical circuits: PV+ neurons form ...

Learning to direct behaviors towards goals is a central function of all vertebrate nervous systems. Initial learning often involves an exploratory phase, in which actions are flexible and highly variable. With repeated ...

How do children learn their first words? Do they do it by gradually accumulating information about the co-occurrence of words and their referents over time, or are words learned via quick social inferences linking what ...

To what extent can experience shape perception? In what ways does perception vary across people or even within the same person at different times? This thesis presents three lines of research examining the role of experience ...

Ecologically relevant search typically requires making rapid and strategic eye movements in complex, cluttered environments. Attention allocation is known to be influenced by low level image features, visual scene context, ...