Brain Mapping in primates: The twists and turns of the visual system

Kristine Krug, Associate Professor
Department of Physiology, anatomy and genetics
Oxford University

Dr Kristine Krug works on the neural basis of visual perception and decision-making. She is a Royal Society University Research Fellow, a University Research Lecturer at the Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics, and the Tutorial Fellow in Biomedical Sciences at Oriel College.

After a DPhil on how ordered maps are formed during brain development, Kristine Krug has been investigating the contribution of single brain cells to visual perception. Employing for instance ambiguous figures similar to the Necker Cube and 3D images, she has characterized how some V5/MT neurons carry signals directly related to decisions about 3D perception but has also shown that the same brain cells carry signals that are not accessible to perceptual decisions.  Recently, she has shown that neural signals in primate V5/MT contribute causally to perceptual decisions about ambiguous figures.

 

The decoding or "read-out" from these neurons is therefore a topic of current research. Her group investigates how contextual factors, like reward and social stimuli, affect the processing of sensory evidence for decision-making. Another project focusses on the anatomical connections within area V5/MT as well its inter-cortical connections using MRI and histological methods in order to elucidate the functional circuitry that underlies simple perceptual decisions. She is also is working on altered decision-making and perception in patients with psychological disorders.

Kristine Krug's work is funded by the Royal Society, the BBSRC, the Volkswagen Foundation and the Wellcome Trust.