# Integrative circuit dissection in the behaving nonhuman primate

> **NIH NIH U01** · UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON · 2024 · $1,010,905

## Abstract

In natural vision, recognizing objects based on the retinal image is challenging and is often an
ill-posed problem because a single image is compatible with multiple interpretations.
Nevertheless, the primate brain has a remarkable ability to understand ambiguous scenes and
solve difficult object recognition problems. Converging evidence suggests that this process,
especially in challenging contexts—e.g., occlusion or low-visibility environments—is based on
the integration of sensory information with prior knowledge built from experience. Our goal is to
develop circuit diagrams at a cellular level that specify how inter-areal interactions support the
integration of sensory signals related to the visual image with internal models that represent
prior knowledge, thereby revealing the computations that underlie scene understanding, object
recognition, and perceptual decision making in the primate brain. To achieve this goal, we have
assembled a synergistic team of experts to bring together, (i) viral-based circuit tracing and
optogenetic methods to identify connected neurons; (ii) multiphoton imaging and high-density
electrode recordings to functionally characterize neurons and signaling motifs in the awake
macaque monkey; (iii) behavioral manipulations and (iv) cutting-edge computational modeling to
reveal how systems of connected neurons across brain regions interact and support complex
perceptual processes. Our proposal includes four projects. In Project 1, PI Briggs will lead an
effort to establish circuit tracing protocols to support dense, reliable, and long-term tracking of
connected neurons in the macaque monkey. We will histologically compare lentivirus and
AAVretro constructs in terms of their efficacy, toxicity, directional reliability, layering, and spread
in labeling connected neurons, and we will test opto-tagging using high density
neurophysiology. In Projects 2 & 3, PI Bair will lead the effort to implement multiphoton imaging
in the awake monkey to identify projecting neurons in vivo during the simultaneous physiological
characterization of 100s of neurons down to a depth of ~1 mm in cortex. In Project 4, PI
Pasupathy will lead the effort to apply the viral methods and physiological characterization with
high-density neuropixels probes and multiphoton imaging to study neurons in visual cortex (area
V4), prefrontal cortex and the visual pulvinar as macaque monkeys perform shape detection in
impoverished images. PI Wu will lead the effort to interpret the population dynamics in the
context of communication subspace models and reveal how connected neurons in three brain
regions underlie the multiplexing of sensory signals and prior knowledge to facilitate object
detection and scene understanding.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10825499
- **Project number:** 5U01NS131810-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
- **Principal Investigator:** Wyeth Daniel Bair
- **Activity code:** U01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $1,010,905
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-04-15 → 2026-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10825499

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10825499, Integrative circuit dissection in the behaving nonhuman primate (5U01NS131810-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10825499. Licensed CC0.

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