System, method and applications involving identification of biological circuits such as neurological characteristics

A method for assessing neural activity of a neural tissue in a neural region having multiple subfields, the method comprising:

• evoking a cellular electrical response in at least one subfield of the neural tissue due to neural activity in the neural region;
• wherein neuronal cells in the neural region express a light-activated ion channel and/or a light-activated ion pump protein, and wherein the cellular electrical response is evoked by optical stimulation of the light-activated ion channel and/or the light-activated ion pump protein;
• capturing image data of the cellular electrical response at space and time limits of resolution that allow for differentiation between polarization-based events of two portions of the at least one subfield, wherein each of the two portions comprises a group of neurons;
• and
• assessing neural activity by correlating space and time information, from the captured data, for the two portions of the at least one subfield.