PhD defence Kris Stefan Evers

Keywords: Visual perception, Biophysical modeling, Cortex

"Layer by layer: From biology to perception through dynamical models of the cortex"

This thesis investigates the relationship between structural and functional aspects of the visual cortex by modelling parts of the outer structures of the brain. In particular, it studies the dynamics of the brain during bistable perception. This is a phenomenon in which an observer changes the interpretation of what he perceives without the visual object changing. This thesis investigates the mechanism underlying this phenomenon. The models in this thesis are based on the biological structure of the brain. By finding the same behaviour in the model as in the perceptual experiment, we can directly see which biological components are responsible for bistable perception. Subsequent experiments can further test the hypotheses arising from this thesis. For example, by using fMRI to focus on these structures in the cortex.

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