Nonparametric Causal Inference for Optogenetics: Sequential Excursion Effects for Dynamic Regimes

Optogenetics is a powerful neuroscience technique for studying how neural circuit manipulation affects behavior. Standard analysis conventions discard information and severely limit the scope of the causal questions that can be probed. To address this gap, we 1) draw connections to the causal inference literature on sequentially randomized experiments, 2) propose nonparametric estimators for analyzing "open-loop" (static regime) optogenetics behavioral experiments, 3) derive extensions of histor