scientificComputing/projects/project_face_selectivity/face_selectivity.tex

\documentclass[a4paper,12pt,pdftex]{exam}

\newcommand{\ptitle}{Face-selectivity index}
\input{../header.tex}
\firstpagefooter{Supervisor: Marius G\"orner}{}%
{email: marius.goerner@uni-tuebingen.de}

\begin{document}

\input{../instructions.tex}


%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Questions %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
\section{Estimating the face-selectivity index (FSI) of neurons}



In the temporal lobe of primates you can find neurons that respond
selectively to a certain type of object category. You may have heard
stories about the famous grandmother neurons which are supposed to
respond exclusively when the subject perceives a particular
person. Even though the existence of a grandmother neuron in the
strict sense is implausible, the concept exemplifies the observation
that sensory neurons within the ventral visual stream are tuned to
certain stimuli types. One of the most important and first visual
stimulus the newborn typically perceives is the mother's face. It is
believed that the early ubiquity of faces and their importance for
social interactions triggers the development of the so called
face-patch system within the temporal lobe of primates.\par
Your task here will be to estimate the \textit{selectivity index}
($SI$) of neurons that were recorded in the superior temporal sulcus
of a rhesus monkey during the visual presentation of objects of different
categories.


\begin{questions}
\question
  In the accompanying datasets you find the
  \texttt{spiketimes} of 184 neurons that were recorded during the visual
  presentation of non-face like stimuli (tools, fruits, hands and
  bodies) and averted and directed faces of humans and rhesus
  monkeys. Each \texttt{.mat}-file contains the data of one neuron
  which was recorded during multiple trials. Spike times are given in
  ms relative to trial onset. Each trial consists of 400 ms of
  baseline recording (presentation of white noise) followed by 400 ms
  of stimulus presentation. Each trial belongs to one object category,
  trial identities can be found in the \texttt{*\_trials}-fields
  (9 fields).

  \begin{parts}
  \part
    Illustrate the spiking activity of all neurons, sorted by object
    category, in a raster plot. As a result you should get one plot
    for each neuron subdevided in subplots for the different
    categories. Mind that there are four categories that contain faces
    (\texttt{averted\_human}, \texttt{face} (straight human face),
    \texttt{monkey} (straight monkey face) and \texttt{gaze\_monkey}),
    you may want to analyze them separately as well combined. Add also
    a marker where the stimulus starts.

  \part
    Estimate the time-resolved firing rate of each neuron for each
    object category. Use at least two different methods
    (e.g. instantaneous firing rate based on interspike intervals,
    spike counting within bins (PSTH), kernel density estimation). Do
    this individually for each trial and average afterwards in order
    to obtain the standard deviation of the firing rates. Plot the
    firing rates and their standard deviations on top of the raster
    plots. Which of the methods appears to be a better representation
    of the spike rasters?

  \part
    Generate figures that show for each neuron the firing rates
    belonging to each object category. Don't forget to add an
    appropriate legend.

  \part
    Next step is to examine the obtained firing rates for significant
    modulations.
    % First, normalize each response to baseline activity
    % (first 400 ms). Why is the normalization useful?
    % \par
    Now, determine the periods within which the neurons activity
    deviates from the baseline activity at least by $2*\sigma$. Do
    this for each object category and mark the periods in the plots in
    an appropriate way. Are there also inhibitory responses? \par
    Describe qualitatively the response properties (phasic, tonic, are
    there differences between neurons and/or stimulus categories?).

  \part
    The $SI$ gives an estimate of how strong a neuron is tuned to the
    chosen object categories. It is given by the neurons response
    during the presentation of the one category compared to the other
    category.
    \begin{equation}
      SI = \frac{ \mu_{\text{Response to category A}} - \mu_{ \text{Response
            to category B}} } { \mu_{\text{Response to category A}} + \mu_{ \text{Response
            to category B} } }
    \end{equation}
    $SI$ can take values between -1 and 1 which indicates tuning to
    the one or to the other category. There are different
    possibilities of how it can be estimated. The easiest way would be
    to average the spike count during the whole time of stimulus
    presentation. However, if responses are phasic you will
    underestimate the $SI$. Therefor, you should limit the estimate to
    periods of significant modulations. Use the periods determined in
    (d). Store all obtained $SI$s within one variable. We are mainly
    interested to identify face-selective neurons but feel free to test
    the neurons for selectivity to other categories, as well.
    
  \part
    Plot the distribution of $SI$ values and describe it
    qualitatively. Does it indicate a continuum or a distinct
    population of face-selective neurons. \par
    Think about a statistical test that tells you whether a given
    neuron is significantly modulated by one or the other category
    (try different combinations of categories). List cells that show
    significant modulation to faces and non-faces. Which is the
    minimum SI that reaches significance when choosing
    $\alpha = 0.05$? Is it an all or nothing selectivity?
    
  \end{parts}
\end{questions}



\end{document}