Collaborative proposal: GCR: In Search for the Interactions that Create Consciousness

合作提案：GCR：寻找创造意识的互动

• 批准号: 2021002
• 负责人: Petar Djuric
• 金额: $ 233.4万
• 依托单位: SUNY at Stony Brook
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-10-01 至 2025-09-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2021002&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; proposal; GCR; Search; Interactions; Collaborative; proposal; GCR; Search; Interactions

This project focuses on the physical footprints of consciousness. A convergent team of engineers, neurosurgeons and neuroscientists will focus on the fundamental problem of understanding what causes the emergence of consciousness. Using techniques from systems neuroscience, neurosurgery, signal processing and machine learning, and data collected with humans and non-human primates, the research aims to develop models of the brain circuit interactions supporting consciousness. Improved understanding of the mechanism of consciousness will facilitate the advancement of new therapeutic approaches for disorders of consciousness and cognitive problems (among other broader impacts). The project includes interdisciplinary research training, will integrate research findings into teaching, and includes outreach to high-school and middle-school students.The theory that the thalamus supports the flexible formation/activation of cortical neural ensembles required for the content of consciousness will be refined, and methods that will restore consciousness in non-human primates will be developed. These advances will be enabled by building novel models, advancing machine learning methods, and researching their theoretical and practical underpinnings. The new methods will be scalable and it is anticipated that they will able to identify causal interactions between brain regions, i.e., whether activity in one area causes activity in another.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

该项目着重于意识的物理足迹。 一支由工程师，神经外科医生和神经科学家组成的团队将重点关注理解导致意识出现​​的基本问题。该研究使用系统神经科学，神经外科手术，信号处理和机器学习以及使用人类和非人类灵长类动物收集的数据，研究旨在开发支持意识的大脑相互作用模型。 对意识机制的理解得到了改善，将促进对意识和认知问题疾病的新治疗方法的发展（包括其他更广泛的影响）。 该项目包括跨学科的研究培训，将研究结果纳入教学，并包括对高中和中学学生的宣传。关于丘脑支持意识内容所需的皮质神经合奏的灵活形成/激活的理论将得到改进，并将恢复非人类灵长类动物的意识的方法。这些进步将通过构建新颖的模型，推进机器学习方法以及研究其理论和实用的基础来实现这些进步。新方法将是可扩展的，可以预计他们将能够确定大脑区域之间的因果关系，即，一个区域的活动是否会导致另一个区域的活动。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为是值得通过基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的审查标准来通过评估来获得支持的。