Diffusion with a broad class of stochastic diffusion coefficients.

In many physical or biological systems, diffusion can be described by Brownian motions with stochastic diffusion coefficients (DCs). In the present study, we investigate properties of the diffusion with a broad class of stochastic DCs with an approach that is different from subordination. We show that for a finite time, the propagator is non-Gaussian and heavy tailed.

View-tuned and view-invariant face encoding in IT cortex is explained by selected natural image fragments.

Humans recognize individual faces regardless of variation in the facial view. The view-tuned face neurons in the inferior temporal (IT) cortex are regarded as the neural substrate for view-invariant face recognition. This study approximated visual features encoded by these neurons as combinations of local orientations and colors, originated from natural image fragments.

Object representation in inferior temporal cortex is organized hierarchically in a mosaic-like structure.

There are two dominant models for the functional organization of brain regions underlying object recognition. One model postulates category-specific modules while the other proposes a distributed representation of objects with generic visual features. Functional imaging techniques relying on metabolic signals, such as fMRI and optical intrinsic signal imaging (OISI), have been used to support both models, but due to the indirect nature of the measurements in these techniques, the existing data for one model cannot be used to support the other model.

Characteristics of motility-based filtering of adherent cells on microgrooved surfaces.

Topographical features are known to physically affect cell behavior and are expected to have great potential for non-invasive control of such behavior. To provide a design concept of a microstructured surface for elaborate non-invasive control of cell migration, we systematically analyzed the effect of microgrooves on cell migration. We fabricated silicon microstructured surfaces covered with SiO(2) with microgrooves of various sizes, and characterized the behavior of cells moving from the flat surface to the grooved surface.

Cortical columnar organization is reconsidered in inferior temporal cortex.

The object selectivity of nearby cells in inferior temporal (IT) cortex is often different. To elucidate the relationship between columnar organization in IT cortex and the variability among neurons with respect to object selectivity, we used optical imaging technique to locate columnar regions (activity spots) and systematically compared object selectivity of individual neurons within and across the spots. The object selectivity of a given cell in a spot was similar to that of the averaged cellular activity within the spot.

Correlated transition between two activity states of neurons.

In order to understand the dynamical properties of a neural network, it is important to characterize the relation between spike trains of two neurons in the network. In this study, we show that in some neuron pairs in inferior temporal cortices of macaque monkeys, spike trains of a pair are described by a two-dimensional Poisson process whose means are modulated by a common two-state Markov process. The common two-state Markov process describes a correlated state transition between firing and nonfiring states of the constituent neurons of the pair.