Collaborative Research: Multisensory Influences On Touch Perception--fMRI, MEG, and TMS Studies

合作研究：多感官对触觉的影响——fMRI、MEG 和 TMS 研究

• 批准号: 0847607
• 负责人: Tony Ro
• 金额: $ 22.99万
• 依托单位: CUNY City College
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2008
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2008-07-01 至 2011-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0847607&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Multisensory; Influences; Touch

In our everyday lives, we are frequently confronted with information from multiple sensory modalities. Recently, there has been increasing interest in the circumstances under which stimuli presented in one sensory modality influence sensations in a different modality. For instance, the sound of a mosquito buzzing seemingly enhances sensitivity to touch (tactile stimulation) on our skin; seeing an insect crawling on someone else's arm seems to affect our own tactile perception. Despite several recent studies examining the influence of audition and vision on touch, the brain mechanisms responsible for these interactions are poorly understood. An NSF-funded collaborative effort of Tony Ro (Rice University) and Michael Beauchamp (University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston) will use a combination of converging methods to examine tactile processing in isolation and the influence of vision and audition on touch in the human brain. Psychophysical studies will be conducted to determine the optimal stimulus parameters that demonstrate an influence of vision and audition on tactile perception. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), and magnetoencephalography (MEG) will be used to localize the brain regions involved with integrating multisensory information. While most of these experiments will be conducted using normal controls, an additional series of experiments will be conducted in a unique patient who acquired auditory-tactile synesthesia following a stroke. Tactile sensitivity on the patient's left hand and arm was impaired, but he now feels tactile sensations in that area in response to sounds. Psychophysical and imaging experiment will be completed on this patient to determine the neural mechanisms responsible for the synesthesia, especially whether plastic neural changes have reconstituted the patient's somatosensory cortex so that it is now responds to sounds.These studies will not only better our understanding of multisensory integration, but will provide a deeper appreciation of general information processing mechanisms of the human brain. Such knowledge will contribute towards the development of better rehabilitative tools for patients with congenital or acquired sensory deficits to one or more of the sensory systems. Additionally, this research will provide a better understanding of the mechanisms of natural and brain-damaged induced changes that take place in the adult human brain. The funding will be used to support research training opportunities for undergraduate, graduate, and post-doctoral trainees in cognitive neuroscience and brain imaging in the Houston area. In addition to training the next generation of brain scientists, the findings of this research will be disseminated through scientific and lay publications, as well as other media outlets, allowing for a deeper understanding and appreciation of the human brain in society.

在我们的日常生活中，我们经常面临来自多种感官方式的信息。 最近，人们对以一种感觉方式呈现的刺激影响另一种感觉方式的感觉的情况越来越感兴趣。例如，蚊子的嗡嗡声似乎增强了我们皮肤的触摸（触觉刺激）的敏感性；看到昆虫在别人的手臂上爬行似乎会影响我们自己的触觉感知。尽管最近有几项研究探讨了听觉和视觉对触觉的影响，但人们对负责这些相互作用的大脑机制知之甚少。 由美国国家科学基金会 (NSF) 资助的托尼·罗 (莱斯大学) 和迈克尔·博尚 (休斯敦德克萨斯大学健康科学中心) 的合作项目将使用聚合方法的组合来单独检查触觉处理以及视觉和听觉对触摸的影响。人类的大脑。将进行心理物理学研究以确定最佳刺激参数，以证明视觉和听觉对触觉的影响。功能磁共振成像（fMRI）、经颅磁刺激（TMS）和脑磁图（MEG）将用于定位涉及整合多感官信息的大脑区域。 虽然大多数这些实验将使用正常对照进行，但还将在中风后获得听觉触觉联觉的独特患者中进行一系列额外的实验。 患者左手和手臂的触觉敏感度受损，但他现在可以在该区域感受到对声音的触觉反应。将对这名患者完成心理物理和影像学实验，以确定负责联觉的神经机制，特别是可塑性神经变化是否重建了患者的体感皮层，使其现在对声音做出反应。这些研究不仅将更好地理解多感觉整合，但将提供对人脑一般信息处理机制的更深入的了解。 这些知识将有助于为一种或多种感觉系统先天性或后天性感觉缺陷的患者开发更好的康复工具。 此外，这项研究还将更好地了解成人大脑中发生的自然变化和脑损伤引起的变化的机制。 这笔资金将用于支持休斯顿地区认知神经科学和脑成像领域的本科生、研究生和博士后学员的研究培训机会。 除了培训下一代脑科学家外，这项研究的结果还将通过科学和非专业出版物以及其他媒体传播，让社会更深入地了解和欣赏人脑。