Combining Vision with Action one Synapse from the Eye

将视觉与行动相结合眼睛的一个突触

基本信息

批准号：
BB/P003273/1
负责人：
Matteo Carandini
金额：
$ 63.2万
依托单位：
University College London
依托单位国家：
英国
项目类别：
Research Grant
财政年份：
2016
资助国家：
英国
起止时间：
2016 至无数据
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=BB%2FP003273%2F1
关键词：
Combining Vision Action Synapse Eye

项目摘要

One synapse away from the eye lies a fundamental brain structure, the superior colliculus, responsible for integrating sensory input, allocating attention to spatial locations, and generating orienting movements of the head and body to those locations. The inputs from the eye go to the superficial portion of the superior colliculus (sSC), which is thought to contain a mostly visual representation of the external world. Recent observations in our laboratory, however, suggest that sSC does much more than pure vision: its visual responses are strongly shaped by non-sensory signals. The proposed project will reveal how this key brain region combines visual signals with non-sensory signals reflecting brain and behavioral state, decision processes and motor actions. Further, it will help reveal the sources of non-sensory signals, and provide a simple model of the functional effects of this combination of visual and non-sensory signals, and of the underlying neural circuits. To achieve these goals, we will leverage novel neural imaging and behavioral techniques that we have developed in our laboratory. We will use two-photon imaging to record activity of hundreds of genetically identified neurons within the sSC of awake mice. The same technique will reveal the activity of the inputs to those neurons originating in the eye or in the cerebral cortex. These imaging measurements will be made while mice are passively viewing a stimulus or actively performing a visual task. Our first objective focuses on how sSC is affected by brain and behavioral state such as arousal and locomotion. We will image responses in sSC to a range of visual stimuli and relate them to the level of arousal, as reflected by pupil diameter, and to locomotion. Preliminary data indicate that these factors have an enormous effect on the responses of some cells and a negligible one on others. We will distinguish cell classes to map these effects onto the circuits of sSC. Our second objective focuses on how sSC is affected in interactive conditions where visual stimuli are used for specific decisions and actions. We will image different cell classes in the sSC while the animal performs a visual task requiring a goal-directed movement. We will relate responses to stimulus, performance, and action using simple correlation measures and a predictive model of neural responses. The data will characterize how the sSC combines visual signals with signals related to decision and action.Our third objective focuses on the sources and circuits that provide the sSC with non-sensory signals. The main visual inputs to sSC originate from the eye and from the cerebral cortex. To assess their role in providing visual and non-sensory signals, we will image the activity of their axon terminals in sSC and the activity of cortical neurons projecting to the sSC. We will then inactivate the cortex to reveal its effect on sSC. The results will characterize the signals that sSC inherits from the eye and from the cortex, and will indicate if the latter is necessary to explain the combination of visual and non-sensory signals seen in sSC. Results from all objectives will allow us to build simple functional and circuit models for the combination of visual and non-sensory signals in the sSC.These experiments have the potential to change the way we think about how the brain integrates sensory and non-sensory inputs, showing how neurons getting direct input from the eye combine visual signals with signals related to brain and behavioural state, decisions, and actions.Expanding our understanding of the function and circuitry of the superior colliculus will eventually enable us to simulate and replicate how this brain area transforms sensory input into commands that allocate attention and generate actions. It may also help to understand attentional deficits in disease and develop cures and therapies.

一个远离眼睛的突触是一个基本的大脑结构，上丘的上丘，负责整合感觉输入，将注意力分配到空间位置，并将头部和身体的方向运动产生到这些位置。眼睛的输入转到了上丘的表面（SSC），该部分被认为包含外部世界的大部分视觉表示。然而，我们实验室的最新观察表明，SSC的作用远不止纯视觉：其视觉响应是由非感官信号强烈影响的。拟议的项目将揭示该关键大脑区域如何将视觉信号与反映大脑和行为状态，决策过程和运动动作的非感官信号结合在一起。此外，它将有助于揭示非感官信号的来源，并提供一个简单的模型，以实现视觉和非感官信号以及潜在的神经回路的功能效应。为了实现这些目标，我们将利用我们在实验室中开发的新型神经成像和行为技术。我们将使用两光子成像记录清醒小鼠SSC中数百个遗传鉴定的神经元的活性。相同的技术将揭示输入对源自眼睛或大脑皮层中的神经元的活性。这些成像测量将在小鼠被动地观察刺激或积极执行视觉任务时进行。我们的第一个客观关注SSC如何受到唤醒和运动等行为状态的影响。我们将在SSC中对一系列视觉刺激进行图像响应，并将它们与唤醒水平相关联，如瞳孔直径所反映的和运动。初步数据表明，这些因素对某些细胞的响应有巨大影响，而对其他细胞的反应则具有巨大影响。我们将区分细胞类别以将这些效果映射到SSC的电路上。我们的第二个目标侧重于在视觉刺激用于特定决策和行动的交互条件下如何影响SSC。我们将在SSC中对不同的单元格进行映像，而动物执行需要目标运动的视觉任务。我们将使用简单的相关度量和神经反应的预测模型来将刺激，性能和行动的反应联系起来。数据将表征SSC如何将视觉信号与与决策和动作相关的信号结合在一起。我们的第三个目标侧重于为SSC提供非感官信号的源和电路。 SSC的主要视觉输入来自眼睛和大脑皮层。为了评估它们在提供视觉和非感官信号中的作用，我们将在SSC中对其轴突终端的活性以及投射到SSC的皮质神经元的活性。然后，我们将使皮层失活以揭示其对SSC的影响。结果将表征SSC从眼睛和皮层继承的信号，并指示后者是否有必要解释SSC中看到的视觉和非感官信号的组合。 Results from all objectives will allow us to build simple functional and circuit models for the combination of visual and non-sensory signals in the sSC.These experiments have the potential to change the way we think about how the brain integrates sensory and non-sensory inputs, showing how neurons getting direct input from the eye combine visual signals with signals related to brain and behavioural state, decisions, and actions.Expanding our understanding of the function and circuitry of the superior colliculus will最终使我们能够模拟和复制该大脑区域如何将感觉输入转换为分配注意力并产生动作的命令。它也可能有助于了解疾病的注意力缺陷并发展治愈和疗法。

项目成果

期刊论文数量（9）

专著数量（0）

科研奖励数量（0）

会议论文数量（0）

专利数量（0）

High-Yield Methods for Accurate Two-Alternative Visual Psychophysics in Head-Fixed Mice.

DOI：
10.1016/j.celrep.2017.08.047
发表时间：
2017-09-05
期刊：
Cell reports
影响因子：
8.8
作者：
Burgess CP;Lak A;Steinmetz NA;Zatka-Haas P;Bai Reddy C;Jacobs EAK;Linden JF;Paton JJ;Ranson A;Schröder S;Soares S;Wells MJ;Wool LE;Harris KD;Carandini M
通讯作者：
Carandini M

Spatial modulation of visual signals arises in cortex with active navigation

通过主动导航，皮层中出现视觉信号的空间调制