Ernst Niebur, MSC, PhD

Primary Academic Title

Professor of Neuroscience

Background

Centers and Institutes

• Basic Biomedical Sciences, Institute for
• The Zanvyl Krieger Mind/Brain Institute

Research Interests

Neuronal function at the system level, Selective attention

Lab Website

Computational Neuroscience Laboratory - Lab Website

• In the computational neuroscience Laboratory, we construct quantitative models of biological nervous systems that are firmly based on their neurophysiology, neuroanatomy and behavior, and that are developed in close interaction with experimentalists. Our main interest is neuronal function at the system level, reflecting the interaction of subsystems to generate useful behavior. Modeling is particularly important for understanding this and other system-level functions, since it requires the interaction of several pathways and neural functions. One of the functions we study is selective attention--that is, the capability of higher animals to scan sensory input for the most important information and to discard all other. Models of the neuronal basis of visual selective attention are constructed by simulating them on digital computers and comparing the results with data obtained from the visual and somatosensory systems of primates. We pay particular attention to the mechanisms involving the implementation of neural mechanisms that make use of the temporal structure of neuronal firing, rather than just the average firing rate.

Research Summary

The Niebur lab constructs quantitative models of biological nervous systems that are firmly based on their neurophysiology, neuroanatomy and behavior. The lab’s main interest is neuronal function at the system level, reflecting the interaction of subsystems to generate useful behavior. Modeling is particularly important for understanding this and other systems-level functions, since it requires the interaction of several pathways and neural functions.

One of the functions studied is selective attention, which is the capability of higher animals to scan sensory input for the most important information and to discard all other. The lab constructs models of the neuronal basis of visual selective attention by simulating them on digital computers and comparing the results with data obtained from the visual and somatosensory systems of primates. Particular attention is paid to the mechanisms involving the implementation of neural mechanisms that make use of the temporal structure of neuronal firing, rather than just the average firing rate.

Selected Publications

• Dong Y, Mihalas S, Kim SS, Yoshioka T, Bensmaia S, Niebur E. “A simple model of mechanotransduction in primate glabrous skin.” Journal of Neurophysiology 2013 Mar; 109(5):1350-1359.

• Dong Y, Mihalas S, Niebur E. “Improved integral equation solution for the first passage time of leaky integrate-and-fire neurons.” Neural Computation, 2011 Feb; 23 (2), 421–34.

• Dong Y, Mihalas S, Russell A, Etienne-Cummings R, Niebur E. “Estimating parameters of generalized integrate-and-fire neurons from the maximum likelihood of spike trains.” Neural Computation 2011 Nov; 23(11):2833-67. Epub 2011 Aug 18.

• Mihalas S, Dong Y, von der Heydt R, Niebur E. “Mechanisms of perceptual organization provide auto-zoom and auto-localization for attention to objects.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 2011 May 3; 108 (18), 7583

• Millman D, Mihalas S, Kirkwood A, Niebur E. “Self-organized criticality occurs in non-conservative neuronal networks during Up states.” Nature Physics, 2010 Oct; 6 (10), 801–805.

Graduate Program Affiliations

• Neuroengineering Training Initiative

  Neuroscience Graduate Program

  Psychological and Brain Sciences

  Visual Neuroscience Training Program