# The adolescent development of top-down feedback for visual processing

> **NIH NIH F31** · GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $48,974

## Abstract

Project Summary
Adolescence is an important period for neural and cognitive development. Many perceptual and cognitive
abilities rely on inputs from higher cortical regions, which are known to develop well into early adulthood,
sending feedback in a top-down manner to lower sensory regions, such as primary visual cortex (V1). How
these feedback projections develop during adolescence is poorly understood. Moreover, the adolescent
development of top-down projections to V1 may have important implications for higher order visual
processing, which is disrupted in a number of neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders. This project
investigates the development of top-down inputs to V1 during adolescence in a mouse model, focusing on
projections from the anterior cingulate area (ACa; a region of mouse prefrontal cortex) through the lens of
visual context processing, a complex form of visual processing dependent on cortical feedback. We
hypothesize that ACa input to V1 becomes increasingly refined during adolescence, permitting the maturation
of visual context processing. The specific aims of this project are (i) to characterize ACa innervation of V1
across adolescence, both structurally and functionally, and (ii) to investigate a role for ACa-V1 circuit
development in visual context processing. Aim 1 will characterize the structural development of ACa axons
and synapses in V1 (Aim 1.1) and the activity of these inputs in V1 during contextually varied visual stimuli
across adolescence (Aim 1.2), using confocal and two-photon microscopy, respectively. Aim 2 will employ a
chronic chemogenetic approach to test the necessity of ACa feedback to V1 specifically in the adolescent phase
for the emergence of mature neural circuitry and visual context processing. Through this project, we seek to
generate novel insight into the development of top-down cortical circuits for visual processing and how this
period of circuit development may be a susceptible window during which disrupted visual processing
emerges in neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders. To achieve these goals, the candidate will receive
training from a skilled team of technical and scientific advisors; specifically, the candidate will gain insight
from the sponsor’s technical experience with two-photon imaging, electrophysiology, and circuit analysis in
the field of visual systems neuroscience, the senior co-sponsor’s developmental and stereological expertise,
and a collaborator’s confocal and synaptic quantification knowledge. Georgia State University provides a well-
equipped and collaborative environment in which to conduct this research. Training will be enhanced by
intramural and extramural opportunities for science education, mentorship, and advocacy.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10903064
- **Project number:** 1F31EY036279-01
- **Recipient organization:** GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Anna Rader Groves
- **Activity code:** F31 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $48,974
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-09-01 → 2027-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10903064

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10903064, The adolescent development of top-down feedback for visual processing (1F31EY036279-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10903064. Licensed CC0.

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