Eyal Seidemann
Professor — Ph.D., Stanford University

Contact
- E-mail: eyal@austin.utexas.edu
- Phone: (512) 232-6052
- Office: SEA 4.204
- Campus Mail Code: A8000
Biography
Eyal Seidemann received his Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Stanford University. He studies the cortical mechanisms that mediate visual perception and visually guided behavior. In his own words: the central goal of my research is to understand how perceptual decisions and motor plans are represented and processed in the primate cerebral cortex. To address this general question, we employ a powerful combination of imaging, genetic and electrophysiological techniques in awake, behaving primates. Our ability to measure and manipulate neural responses in the cortex of alert animals puts us in a unique position; it allows us to directly visualize and perturb cortical activity in real-time, while subjects perform demanding perceptual or motor tasks. We then build computational models that attempt to explain how the measured neural activity could lead to the observed behavior. Finally, we test the predictions of these quantitative models by measuring how perceptual judgments or motor plans change following selective manipulations of the neural response using optogenetic, electrical or pharmacological techniques.
Courses
NEU 394P • Topics In Systems Neurosci
57595 • Spring 2010
Meets F 2:00PM-5:00PM SEA 4.242
(also listed as PSY 394U)
PSY 394U • Adv Tpcs In Systems Neurosci
45330 • Fall 2007
Meets W 12:00PM-3:00PM SEA 4.242
PSY 394U • Adv Tpcs In Systems Neurosci
43280 • Spring 2006
Meets TH 12:30PM-3:30PM SEA 2.224
PSY 394U • Topics In Vision And Hearing
43300 • Fall 2005
Meets M 12:00PM-3:00PM SEA 4.324
PSY 394U • Topics In Vision And Hearing
41810 • Spring 2005
Meets M 2:30PM-5:30PM NOA 1.110
PSY 394U • Topics In Vision And Hearing
42850 • Fall 2004
Meets M 3:00PM-6:00PM SEA 2.108
PSY 394U • Topics In Vision And Hearing
40280 • Spring 2004
Meets W 2:00PM-5:00PM SEA 3.250
PSY 394U • Topics In Vision And Hearing
41405 • Fall 2003
Meets M 3:00PM-5:00PM SEA 3.250
PSY 394U • Topics In Vision And Hearing
40555 • Spring 2003
Meets M 2:30PM-5:30PM SEA 3.250
PSY 394U • Topics In Vision And Hearing
41182 • Fall 2002
Meets M 2:30PM-5:30PM SEA 3.250
Publications
Mehta P, Kreeger L, Wylie DC, Pattadkal JJ, Lusignan T, Davis MJ, Turi GF, Li WK, Whitmire MP, Chen Y, Kajs BL, Seidemann E, Priebe NJ, Losonczy A, Zemelman BV. (2019). Functional Access to Neuron Subclasses in Rodent and Primate Forebrain. Cell Rep 26: 2818-32.e80
Benvenuti G, Chen Y, Ramakrishnan C, Deisseroth K, Geisler WS, Seidemann E. (2018). Scale-Invariant Visual Capabilities Explained by Topographic Representations of Luminance and Texture in Primate V1. Neuron 100: 1-9
Michel MM, Chen Y, Seidemann E, Geisler WS. (2018). Nonlinear Lateral Interactions in V1 Population Responses Explained by a Contrast Gain Control Model. J Neuroscience 38: 10069-79
Seidemann E, Geisler WS. (2018). Linking V1 Activity to Behavior. Ann rev vision science 4: 287-310
Michelson C, Pillow J, Seidemann E. (2017). Majority of choice-related variability in perceptual decisions is present in early sensory cortex. bioRxiv: 207357
Seidemann E, Chen Y, Bai Y, Chen SC, Mehta P, Kajs, BL, Geisler, WS, Zemelman, BV. (2016). Calcium imaging with genetically encoded indicators in behaving primates. eLife 5
Yang Z, Heeger DJ, Blake R, Seidemann E. (2014). Long-range traveling waves of activity triggered by local dichoptic stimulation in V1 of behaving monkeys. J neurophysiology 113: 277-94
Tan AYY, Chen Y, Scholl B, Seidemann E, Priebe NJ. (2014) Sensory stimulation shifts visual cortex from synchronous to asynchronous states. Nature 509: 226-229
Michel MM, Chen Y, Geisler WS, Seidemann E. (2013). An illusion predicted by V1 population activity implicates cortical topography in shape perception. Nature Neuroscience 16: 1477-1483.
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Chen Y, Seidemann E. (2012). Attentional Modulations Related to Spatial Gating but Not to Allocation of Limited Resources in Primate V1. Neuron 74:557-66
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Palmer CR, Chen Y, Seidemann E. (2012). Uniform spatial spread of population activity in primate parafoveal V1. Journal of Neurophysiology 107:1857-67
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Chen Y, Palmer CR, Seidemann E. (2012). The relationship between voltage-sensitive dye imaging signals and spiking activity of neural populations in primate V1. Journal of Neurophysiology 107:3281-95
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Seidemann, E., Chen, Y. & Geisler, W. (2009) Encoding and Decoding with Neural Populations in the Primate Cortex. In Gazzaniga M. S. (Ed.), . The Cognitive Neuroscience IV. Cambridge: MIT Press, 419-434.
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Sit, Y.-F., Chen, Y., Geisler, W. S., Miikkulaine, R. & Seidemann, E. (2009) Complex dynamics of V1 population responses explained by a simple gain-control model. Neuron 64, 943-56.
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Chen, Y. & Geisler, W. & Seidemann, E. (2008) Optimal temporal decoding of neural population responses in a reaction time visual detection task. Journal of Neurophysiology, 99(3), 1366-1379.
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Palmer, C. & Cheng, S. & Seidemann, E. (2007) Linking Neuronal and Behavioral Performance in a Reaction-Time Visual Detection Task. The Journal of Neuroscience, 27(30), 8122-8137.
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Yang, Z. & Heeger, D. & Seidemann, E. (2007) Rapid and precise retinotopic mapping of the visual cortex obtained by voltage sensitive dye imaging in the behaving monkey. Journal of Neurophysiology, 98(2), 1002-1014.
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Chen, Y. & Geisler, W. & Seidemann, E. (2006) Optimal decoding of correlated neural population responses in the primate visual cortex. Nature Neuroscience, 9(11), 1412-1420.
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Seidemann, E., Arieli, A., Grinvald, A. & Slovin, H. (2002) Dynamics of depolarization and hyperpolarization in the frontal cortex and saccade goal. Science, 295(5556), 862-865.
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Seidemann, E. & Newsome, W. (1999) Effect of spatial attention on the responses of area MT neurons. Journal of Neurophysiology, 81(4), 1783-1794.
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D.J. Heeger., Boynton, G., Newsome, W. & Demb, J., Seidemann, E. (1999) Motion opponency in visual cortex. The Journal of Neuroscience, 19(16), 7162-74
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Seidemann, E., Poirson, A., Wandell, B. & Newsome, W. (1999) Color signals in area MT of the macaque monkey. Neuron, 24(4):911-7.
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Seidemann, E. & Zohary, E. (1998) Temporal gating of neural signals during performance of a visual discrimination task. Nature, 394(6688), 72-75.
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Seidemann, E., Meilijson, I., Abeles, M., Bergman, H. & Vaadia, E. (1996) Simultaneously recorded single units in the frontal cortex go through sequences of discrete and stable states in monkeys performing a delayed localization task. The Journal of Neuroscience, 16(2), 752-768.
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