Spatial and nonspatial knowledge

空间和非空间知识

基本信息

批准号：
10334497
负责人：
RUSSELL A EPSTEIN
金额：
$ 44.94万
依托单位：
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
财政年份：
2021
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
2021-02-01 至 2026-01-31
项目状态：
未结题

来源：
https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10334497
关键词：
Address Alzheimer&apos s Disease Animals Architecture Articulation Behavior Behavioral Brain Brain region Cells Cities Code Cognition Cognitive Cognitive Science Complex Coupled Elements Environment Episodic memory Fire - disasters Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Future Graph Grouping Head Hippocampal Formation Human Imagination Impairment Individual Individual Differences Investigation Knowledge Life Location Maps Mediating Memory Methods Mind Nature Neighborhoods Neurocognitive Neurodegenerative Disorders Neurons Pattern Persons Play Process Psyche structure Psychologist Recording of previous events Research Rodent Role Route Scientist Self-Help Devices Semantic memory Semantics Stroke Structure Support System System Techniques Testing Thinking Traction Vision Visuospatial Work base behavior measurement behavioral study cognitive function cognitive neuroscience experimental study mental representation neural correlate neuroimaging neuromechanism neurophysiology normal aging operation prospective rehabilitation strategy relating to nervous system spatial memory spatial relationship theories way finding

项目摘要

Project Summary The ability to navigate from one place to another is essential for a flourishing and autonomous human life. Cognitive scientists have long believed that navigation in humans and animals is guided by mental representations of the spatial structure of the world, which are referred to as “cognitive maps” because they play a functional role that is similar to physical maps. Consistent with this idea, electrophysiologists have identified neurons in rodent brains that fire as a function of spatial variables that are essential elements of a cognitive map, such as location, distance, and heading direction, while cognitive neuroscientists have investigated possible neural correlates of cognitive maps in several regions of the human brain, including the hippocampal formation (HF) and the retrosplenial complex (RSC). Notably, these brain regions are also known to be essential for several important cognitive functions besides spatial navigation, including memory, imagination, and thinking about the future. However, despite this previous work, there remain two crucial gaps in our knowledge. First, we have an incomplete understanding of how cognitive maps are represented in the human brain. Behavioral studies indicate that our spatial knowledge is often fragmented, hierarchically organized, and distorted in multiple ways compared to metric truth, and we do not yet understand how these “real” cognitive maps are represented in brain structures such as HF and RSC. Most notably, we do not understand how the brain divides environments into spatial parts (such as rooms within a building, or neighborhoods in a city), and how it then combines these parts into a larger whole. Second, we do not yet have a good theory of how spatial cognitive maps can be applied to non-spatial domains, thus allowing brain structures such as HF and RSC to mediate both spatial and nonspatial functions. The current project will address these issues by using advanced neuroimaging techniques, such as multivoxel pattern analysis and individual difference analyses to: (i) identify the neural mechanisms that allow the brain to encode subspaces within a larger space; (ii) delineate the neural processes by which subspaces representations are combined into a larger cognitive map, and (iii) understand how the principles underlying spatial cognitive maps can be applied to nonspatial domains. This project has the potential to make a major and sustained advance in the field by resolving longstanding questions about the cognitive and neural systems underlying spatial navigation, and by providing fundamental knowledge about how the brain mediates a wide range of basic cognitive functions, including not just navigation, but also semantic and episodic memory, prospective thinking, and reasoning.

项目概要从一个地方导航到另一个地方的能力对于繁荣和自治的国家至关重要认知科学家长期以来一直认为人类和动物的导航是。以世界空间结构的心理表征为指导，这些表征被称为 “认知地图”是因为它们发挥着与物理地图相似的功能作用。有了这个想法，电生理学家已经确定了啮齿类动物大脑中的神经元可以作为空间变量的函数，这些变量是认知地图的基本元素，例如位置、距离和前进方向，而认知神经科学家已经研究了可能的神经区域与人脑多个认知图谱相关，包括值得注意的是，海马结构（HF）和压后复合体（RSC）。除了空间之外，它们对于几个重要功能也至关重要导航，包括记忆、想象力，以及对未来的思考。在之前的工作中，我们的知识仍然存在两个关键差距：首先，我们有一个。对认知图在人脑中的表示方式的不完全理解。行为研究表明，我们的空间知识往往是碎片化的、层次化的与度量真理相比，它们以多种方式被组织和扭曲，而我们还没有了解这些“真实的”认知图如何在大脑结构中表示，例如 HF 和 RSC 最值得注意的是，我们不了解大脑如何将环境划分为空间部分。（例如建筑物内的房间或城市中的社区），以及如何将这些结合起来其次，我们还没有一个关于空间认知的良好理论。地图可以应用于非空间域，从而允许 HF 和 RSC 等大脑结构调解空间和非空间功能当前的项目将解决这些问题。通过使用先进的神经影像技术，例如多体素模式分析和个体差异分析可以：（i）识别允许大脑编码的神经机制 (ii) 描述子空间的神经过程表征被组合成一个更大的认知图，并且（iii）理解如何空间认知图的基本原理可以应用于非空间领域。通过解决长期存在的问题，有可能在该领域取得重大和持续的进展关于空间导航的认知和神经系统的问题，以及提供有关大脑如何调节广泛的基本认知的基础知识功能，不仅包括导航，还包括语义和情景记忆、前瞻性思考、推理。