How do we perceive the world? Information in the external world, i.e., sensory information, needs to be actively processed in the brain to be transformed into a “percept.” Sensory processing (computation of sensory stimuli in the brain) is the gateway to sensory perception, and efficient sensory processing is required for the perceptual behavior of the animal. How do our brain circuits execute this amazing function? We answer this question by studying cortical circuits that control animal perceptual behaviors. 
To survive in a complex and changing environment, animals must dynamically adjust their behavioral states, rapidly switching into alert, attentive states upon task demand. Perception of the sensory information initiates the task, and the complex sensory information must be reconstructed fast in the cortical circuits to generate a single percept. Cortex is divided into multiple regions with distinct functions, and sensory modalities are processed in different cortical areas, which consist of similar microcircuits with population of excitatory and inhibitory neurons. How does then the cortical network process fast reconstruction of the multi-sensory information? To answer this question, I aim to unravel neural circuits for sensory processing, integration, and modulation. The results will recruit attention from the field by opening a new scope on the brain mechanism of sensory integration.

My plan is to build on my prior work and further develop my independent research career in neurobiology of cognition by investigating the functional organization of specific cell types and circuits. I will combine state-of-the-art molecular, physiological, and behavioral techniques to bring key advances in our understanding of the neural basis of perceptual and cognitive behavior. Such insights should be broadly applicable to the treatment of cognitive disorders including Alzheimer‘s disease, attention deficit disorder, autism, and schizophrenia, which are often correlated with the disruption of neuromodulation and cortical processing.

By Dr. Lee Seung-hee 

Dr. Lee is an assistant professor at Department of Biological Sciences at KAIST. --Ed.