---
OA_embargo: '12'
OA_place: publisher
_id: '18574'
abstract:
- lang: eng
text: "Biological vision is unlike a camera; rather than transmitting light information
faithfully, early\r\nvisual circuits process the visual scene to convey only the
relevant information in an efficient\r\nmanner. Consequentially, the nature of
this visual processing then depends on what is the\r\nrelevant information in
a scene and on the notion of efficiency. In this work, I study how visual\r\nprocessing
is modulated by two different variations in the visual scene. First, I discovered
that\r\nin the mouse (Mus musculus) retina, Retinal Ganglion Cells in the upper
and lower visual\r\nfield have differences in the center surround structure of
their receptive fields. Comparison\r\nwith models of efficient coding show that
this adaptation likely evolved to cope with the\r\nbrightness gradient from the
sky to the ground that is pervasive in natural scenes. In the\r\nsecond project,
I study how the downstream neurons in the Superior Colliculus dynamically\r\nchange
their temporal selectivity depending on the ambient luminance and behavioral state.\r\nAs
the scene gets darker or when the animal is is less aroused, the neuronal responses
get\r\nlaggier, while still maintaining their relative timing with respect to
the population. Overall, this\r\nwork emphasises the need to understand visual
processing in the context of specific demands\r\nof the animal in its the environment.
The adaptive changes in the visual system, from the\r\nretinal ganglion cells
to the superior colliculus, highlight the intricate ways in which biological\r\nvision
optimizes the processing of visual information.\r\n"
acknowledged_ssus:
- _id: Bio
- _id: ScienComp
- _id: PreCl
- _id: LifeSc
- _id: M-Shop
- _id: E-Lib
acknowledgement: "This work would have been impossible without the Scientific Service
Units of IST Austria. The resources and expertise provided by Scientific Computing
(especially Alois Schlögl), the MIBA Machine Shop (especially Todor Asenov), the
Preclinical Facility (especially Freyja Langer), the Library, the Lab Support Facility
and the Imaging and Optics Facility were the essential bedrock I could build upon.
I would also like to thank IT support at ISTA for powering through remote work and
a cyberattack.\r\nI am grateful for having been funded initially by the European
Union Horizon 2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant 665385 and later by Prof. Maximilian
Joesch's the European Research Council Starting (756502) and Consolidator (101086580)
Grants."
alternative_title:
- ISTA Thesis
article_processing_charge: No
author:
- first_name: Divyansh
full_name: Gupta, Divyansh
id: 2A485EBE-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
last_name: Gupta
orcid: 0000-0001-7400-6665
citation:
ama: Gupta D. Visual adaptations to natural statistics. 2024. doi:10.15479/at:ista:18574
apa: Gupta, D. (2024). Visual adaptations to natural statistics. Institute
of Science and Technology Austria. https://doi.org/10.15479/at:ista:18574
chicago: Gupta, Divyansh. “Visual Adaptations to Natural Statistics.” Institute
of Science and Technology Austria, 2024. https://doi.org/10.15479/at:ista:18574.
ieee: D. Gupta, “Visual adaptations to natural statistics,” Institute of Science
and Technology Austria, 2024.
ista: Gupta D. 2024. Visual adaptations to natural statistics. Institute of Science
and Technology Austria.
mla: Gupta, Divyansh. Visual Adaptations to Natural Statistics. Institute
of Science and Technology Austria, 2024, doi:10.15479/at:ista:18574.
short: D. Gupta, Visual Adaptations to Natural Statistics, Institute of Science
and Technology Austria, 2024.
corr_author: '1'
date_created: 2024-11-20T21:30:44Z
date_published: 2024-11-22T00:00:00Z
date_updated: 2026-04-07T13:24:48Z
day: '22'
ddc:
- '573'
degree_awarded: PhD
department:
- _id: GradSch
- _id: MaJö
doi: 10.15479/at:ista:18574
ec_funded: 1
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date_created: 2024-11-25T14:44:03Z
date_updated: 2025-11-11T23:30:02Z
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date_created: 2024-11-26T11:43:19Z
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has_accepted_license: '1'
language:
- iso: eng
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
month: '11'
oa: 1
oa_version: Published Version
page: '86'
project:
- _id: bdaf81a8-d553-11ed-ba76-c95961984540
grant_number: '101086580'
name: 'Action Selection in the Midbrain: Neuromodulation of Visuomotor Senses'
- _id: 2564DBCA-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425
call_identifier: H2020
grant_number: '665385'
name: International IST Doctoral Program
- _id: 2634E9D2-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425
call_identifier: H2020
grant_number: '756502'
name: Circuits of Visual Attention
publication_identifier:
isbn:
- 978-3-99078-050-3
issn:
- 2663-337X
publication_status: published
publisher: Institute of Science and Technology Austria
related_material:
record:
- id: '12349'
relation: part_of_dissertation
status: public
- id: '12370'
relation: research_data
status: public
status: public
supervisor:
- first_name: Maximilian A
full_name: Jösch, Maximilian A
id: 2BD278E6-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
last_name: Jösch
orcid: 0000-0002-3937-1330
title: Visual adaptations to natural statistics
tmp:
image: /images/cc_by_nc_sa.png
legal_code_url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/legalcode
name: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC
BY-NC-SA 4.0)
short: CC BY-NC-SA (4.0)
type: dissertation
user_id: ba8df636-2132-11f1-aed0-ed93e2281fdd
year: '2024'
...