Mechanisms of Attention in the Pulvinar of the Ferret (2015)

Undergraduates: Christine Nam, Charles Zhou, Kristin Sellers Chunxiu Yu

Faculty Advisor: Flavio Frohlich
Department: Biology

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I participated in a research project in which I worked with ferrets and trained them in a behavioral paradigm task to assess the role of the pulvinar in attentional tasks. To accomplish this goal, I went in daily to train ferrets in a bottom up fashion. The task was completed in a meticulous fashion in which the animals would learn to associate the stimulus on the screen with a reward and then touching the stimulus with a reward. I went in daily to train the animals at a certain time to keep confounding factors from influencing the experiment as much as possible. The ferrets started becoming increasingly familiar with the task. To determine when they could move on to the next level, I took data on the frequency with which they correctly touched the stimulus as opposed to when they missed it entirely or touched the wrong screen. When they reached the top level and excelled at it, graduate student Kristin Sellers and post doctorate Chunxiu Yu performed a surgery to implant two 16-channel silicon probes in the brains of the ferrets. After recovery, we retrained the ferrets to get back to the original task. We recorded timing and accuracy of the tasks with the probes while also filming them. With this timing, accuracy, and videos, we can place them in juxtaposition in assess the pulvinar recordings in the task. By learning more about the pulvinar, it is hoped that the information could be implemented in treating mental illnesses in which attentional deficit a hallmark symptom.