Kenneth Grieve
Senior Lecturer
Neuroscience & Experimental Psychology
University of Manchester
United Kingdom
Biography
We are all interested in how our brains work. Individual brains cells connect to one another in what seems like random ways - but we know that there are basic circuits, so, for example we can "trace" the pathway from eye to brain, and even a significant amount of the wiring within the separate brain areas which together make the "visual pathway" and perhaps more importantly, what these cells can do. However, there are still many missing pieces, in particular how information from higher visual areas is fed backwards to influence the lower ones. It is surprising to know that numerically there is more "feedback" than there is information being "fed forward"; for example from the higher cortical areas, linked to thought, emotion and decision making, back to the lowest visual areas, which actually receives the sensory input from the eye - truly, you "see what you think you see"! I use the anaesthetised rat as a model brain, monitoring individual cell activity in early visual areas in response to stimuli which try to selectively "enhance" this feedback, to try to understand its function.
Research Interest
Neuroscience & Mental Health
Publications
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Bursting thalamic responses in awake monkey contribute to visual detection and are modulated by corticofugal feedback.
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Central fatigue induced by short-lasting finger tapping and isometric tasks: A study of silent periods evoked at spinal and supraspinal levels.
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Melanopsin supports irradiance-driven changes in maintained activity in the superior colliculus of the mouse
