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@PHDTHESIS{Kurth:1037847,
author = {Kurth, Anno},
title = {{C}onstruction of a {S}piking {N}etwork {M}odel of
{M}acaque {P}rimary {V}isual {C}ortex: {T}owards {D}igital
{T}wins},
volume = {107},
school = {RWTH Aachen University},
type = {Dissertation},
address = {Jülich},
publisher = {Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH Zentralbibliothek, Verlag},
reportid = {FZJ-2025-00990},
isbn = {978-3-95806-800-1},
series = {Schriften des Forschungszentrums Jülich Reihe Information
/ Information},
pages = {xvi, 207},
year = {2024},
note = {Dissertation, RWTH Aachen University, 2024},
abstract = {The cerebral cortex of the mammalian brain is composed of
an unfathomable amount of neurons that are organized in
intricate circuits across several spatial scales. If
present, cortical activity reflects higher-level information
processing in mammals. One approach to study the
relationship between the cortex’ structure and its
activity is to represent the studied physical system by a
“digital twin”, a computational model in which
anatomical and physiological findings can be incorporated.
In such digital twins, experiments can be performed and data
obtained not feasible using the “physical twin”. This
thesis focuses on building a large scale, biologically
plausible spiking network model of macaque primary visual
cortex. As such, it combines results from the experimental
literature and contributes to building ever more
sophisticated digital twins of the visual cortex. This quest
is embedded into a larger neuroscientific research program
aiming at expanding the usage of computer models in
Neurosciene. In line with this approach, in this thesis
first resting state neural activity recorded from macaque
primary visual cortex is analyzed. A separation of neural
activity into two clusters that can be related to the
monkey’s behavior is found that is co-modulated along with
topdown signals from V4. To explore whether this
co-modulation might be causative for the separation of
states, in silico experiments of a model of the local
cortical circuit are conducted. However, this simple model
neglects much of the fine structure of visual cortex. Hence,
subsequently a large-scale, biologically plausible digital
twin of this area is devised. After unifying and integrating
a large body of data across multiple sources, simulations of
the model reveal unrealistic activity. This motivates a
further investigation of cortical connectivity in light of
recent advances of reconstruction of microcircuits in the
brain. The findings offer potential resolutions for the
encountered problems and highlight stark differences between
recent and previous reconstructions of local cortical
networks. To employ digital twins as research platforms in
Neuroscience, simulation technologies need to be readily
available for the research community. Such technologies have
to be continuously developed and updated to meet the
requirements of the researchers. To contribute to this
endeavor, in this thesis the performance of the neural
simulation tool NEST is assessed and compared with
alternative approaches. Additionally, a benchmarking
workflow with a view towards neural network simulations is
developed that aids the continuous development of spiking
neural network simulation technologies.},
cin = {IAS-6},
cid = {I:(DE-Juel1)IAS-6-20130828},
pnm = {5231 - Neuroscientific Foundations (POF4-523) / ACA -
Advanced Computing Architectures (SO-092) / HBP SGA2 - Human
Brain Project Specific Grant Agreement 2 (785907) / HBP SGA3
- Human Brain Project Specific Grant Agreement 3 (945539) /
DFG project G:(GEPRIS)313856816 - SPP 2041: Computational
Connectomics (313856816)},
pid = {G:(DE-HGF)POF4-5231 / G:(DE-HGF)SO-092 / G:(EU-Grant)785907
/ G:(EU-Grant)945539 / G:(GEPRIS)313856816},
typ = {PUB:(DE-HGF)3 / PUB:(DE-HGF)11},
urn = {urn:nbn:de:0001-2504220847268.413844325757},
doi = {10.34734/FZJ-2025-00990},
url = {https://juser.fz-juelich.de/record/1037847},
}