Hi-Tech Electrical Probes Reveal Visual Information Flow Mirrors Structural Organization January 25, 2021 Using high-resolution Neuropixels silicon probes thinner than a human hair, scientists at the Allen Institute for Brain Science have captured hundreds of split-second electrical signals that fire when an animal is interpreting what it sees. Analyzing the data collected reveals that functional connectivity between different areas mirrors the complex structural hierarchy in the visual system and provides key insights on how signals propagate along the organizational layers of the visual system. High-resolution Neuropixels silicon probes. [Allen Institue] “Historically, people have studied one brain region at a time, but the brain doesn’t mediate behavior and cognition with just one area alone,” says Shawn Olsen, PhD, Associate Investigator. “We’re learning that the brain operates through the interaction of areas and signals sent from one area to another, but technical limitations have prevented us from studying this in depth in the past. We really needed the integrated view that this dataset provides to start to understand how that works.”