CIAIC Seminar 2025-11-03 Marianna E. Schmidt

Marianna E. Schmidt

Doctoral Candidate

Max Planck School of Cognition

“Revealing the functional and structural mesoscale organization of the human visual cortex with high-resolution MRI”

MONDAY, November 3 | 10-11 AM

Abstract: Mesoscale cortical columns - such as ocular dominance columns (ODCs) in primary visual cortex (V1) and color-

or disparity-selective stripes in secondary visual cortex (V2) - are a hallmark of visual cortical organization in non-human

primates. Studying these structures in humans has been challenging due to the limited resolution of conventional in-vivo

imaging techniques. In this talk, I will first present our recent work using high-resolution functional MRI at 7 Tesla to

localize ODCs in V1 and characterize their fine-scale resting-state functional connectivity. In the second part, I will

describe ongoing efforts using high-resolution quantitative MRI to map mesoscale myelin distribution on the level of

individual subjects, aiming to reveal structure-function relationships with functional V2 stripes. Together, these studies

demonstrate that high-resolution MRI offers a powerful window into the mesoscale architecture of the human visual

cortex, bridging the gap between non-invasive imaging and classical neuroanatomy.