In Search of the Neural Underpinnings of Temporal Binding: Linking Synaptic Depression with Neural Adaptation in Auditory Cortex

寻找颞结合的神经基础：将突触抑制与听觉皮层的神经适应联系起来

• 批准号: 430904660
• 负责人: Professor Dr. Michael Brosch, Ph.D.
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Leibniz-Institut für Neurobiologie (LIN)
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Research Grants
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 德国
• 起止时间: 2019-12-31 至 2022-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/430904660?language=en
• 关键词: Search; Neural; Underpinnings; Temporal; Binding

The perception of sound is intimately bound with time evolution: most sounds, speech sounds in particular, make sense only when perceived against the backdrop of what came immediately before. This requires memory whereby incoming sounds are represented in the context of a continuously updated representation of the immediate past. We term this process temporal binding. While the neural underpinnings of temporal binding are an open question, recent research suggests that synaptic depression might be one of its key mechanisms. Synaptic depression could be considered a local form of memory, and it is difficult to observe directly. However, one of its observable effects is thought to be adaptation, a form of sensory memory which expresses itself as the attenuation of neural responses with repeated stimulation. Both synaptic depression and adaptation can be characterized by the time constants describing the speed with which recovery from these effects occur. We intend to investigate the link between synaptic depression, adaptation, and temporal binding by combining the complementary expertise of the applicants in computational modelling of auditory cortex, recordings of single-neuron activity in monkey auditory cortex, and magnetoencephalography (MEG) and electroencephalography (EEG) measurements in humans. This use of monkey and human subjects will allow us to observe adaptation and temporal binding in the activity of small and large neuronal populations of auditory cortex. These observations combined with computational modelling will form a powerful tool for uncovering the neural underpinnings of temporal binding. The first part of the project will address the relationship between synaptic depression and adaptation by means of simulations and experiments. Our preliminary results suggest that this relationship is non-trivial and complex, but the use of multiple, complementary experimental paradigms for measuring adaptation will allow us to estimate values of the recovery time constant of synaptic depression individually for each subject. In the second part, we will test predictions of the modelling work, utilizing the experimentally gained estimates of the recovery time constant for synaptic depression in humans and monkey auditory cortex. This will allow us to address how auditory cortex represents sound sequences and how it discriminates between sequences differing in the timing of their elements.The project is timely, and its realization requires the amalgamation of expertise in monkey electrophysiology, human MEG/EEG, and computational neuroscience. The Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology in Magdeburg is one of the few research institutes in the world which brings together, to a single site, the required expertise and methodology.

声音的感知与时间的演变密切相关：大多数声音，尤其是语音声音，只有在立即被观察到的背景下，才有意义。这就需要内存，使传入的声音在不断更新的过去表示的上下文中表示。我们称此过程时间结合。虽然暂时结合的神经基础是一个悬而未决的问题，但最近的研究表明，突触抑郁症可能是其关键机制之一。突触抑郁症可以视为记忆的局部形式，很难直接观察。但是，它可观察到的效果之一被认为是适应性的，一种感觉记忆形式，其表达为对神经反应的衰减，并反复刺激。突触抑制和适应性都可以以时间常数描述从这些影响中恢复的速度的时间常数。我们打算通过结合申请人在听觉皮层的计算模型中的互补专业知识，猴子听觉皮层中的单神经元活性的记录以及磁脑摄影术（MEG）和脑电图（EEG）测量企业中的含量（EEG）测量。猴子和人类受试者的这种使用将使我们能够观察到在听觉皮层的大小神经元种群中的适应性和时间结合。这些观察结果与计算建模相结合将形成一个有力的工具，用于揭示时间结合的神经基础。该项目的第一部分将通过模拟和实验来解决突触抑郁症与适应之间的关系。我们的初步结果表明，这种关系是非平凡且复杂的，但是使用多种互补的实验范式来测量适应性，将使我们能够估算每个受试者分别突触抑郁的恢复时间常数的值。在第二部分中，我们将利用人类和猴子听觉皮层的突触抑郁症的恢复时间常数的实验估计来测试建模工作的预测。这将使我们能够解决听觉皮层代表声音序列的方式，以及它如何区分其元素时机不同的序列。该项目是及时的，其实现需要猴子电物质学，人类MEG/EEG和计算神经科学方面的专业知识合并。玛格德堡的莱布尼兹神经生物学研究所是世界上为数不多的研究机构之一，它将所需的专业知识和方法融合到一个地点。