Is sensory perception just a controlled hallucination? Evidence from the thalamocortical system
by Daniel Llano
Carle Illinois College of Medicine
Innovation Grand Rounds
Friday, January 8, 2021
noon – 1:00 p.m. Hear from Daniel Llano
1:00 – 1:30 p.m. Reflection & Dialogue
Zoom Call-in: go.illinois.edu/innovationgrandrounds
Abstract:
Traditional models of sensory perception are based on serial bottom-up processing schemes whereby increasingly complex receptive fields are built to represent complex features in the sensory world. Such models fail to explain how vivid sensory percepts occur during dreaming or during hallucinations. Here, we present new evidence for mechanisms involving the thalamus and cortex that support the idea that sensory perception occurs through a process of recall and synthesis of sensory information. This “synthetic” model of perception brings it closer to models of dreaming and hallucinations. As such, a greater understanding of this process will shed insights into pathological conditions that involve hallucinations, such as schizophrenia, delirium or neurodegenerative diseases such as Dementia with Lewy Bodies.
Biography:
Daniel Llano is an Associate Professor of Molecular and Integrative Physiology, a full-time faculty member at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology and a cognitive and behavioral neurologist at Carle. He is also a member of the Department of Biomedical and Translational Sciences in the Carle Illinois College of Medicine.
