ATTENTION AND VOLUNTARY ACTION IN PREFRONTAL CORTEX

前额皮质的注意力和自愿行动

• 批准号: 6330313
• 负责人: VINCENT P FERRERA
• 金额: $ 18.35万
• 依托单位: NEW YORK STATE PSYCHIATRIC INSTITUTE DBA RESEARCH FOUNDATION FOR MENTAL HYGIENE, INC
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 1998
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1998-12-01 至 2003-11-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/6330313
• 关键词: Macaca mulatta; attention; brain electrical activity; cues; electrical measurement; histology; limb movement; memory; motor neurons; neural information processing; prefrontal lobe /cortex; psychomotor function; saccades; space perception; stimulus /response; visual perception; visual stimulus

This proposal is concerned with how the brain constructs its representation of visual space and how this representation is used in movement planning and control. There are many views on the relationship between visual-spatial awareness and voluntary action. One view is that what we perceive as a unitary awareness is nothing more than the sum total of a multitude of low-level sensory-motor programs interacting with the physical world. Another view is that the brain explicitly constructs a "mental workspace" or general purpose representation of space which is independent of any particular effector system, and that it uses this representation for motor planning. Attention and working memory are important components of this high-level spatial representation. What parts of the brain might be involving in forming such a representation? One promising candidate is area 46 of prefrontal cortex. Previous work has shown that area 46 neurons encode the locations of behaviorally relevant visual stimuli and hold these representations on-line during working memory tasks, including memory- guided saccade tasks. The current proposal examines the relationship between neuronal activity in area 46 and the programming of saccadic eye movements and visually-guided arm movements. Three experiments will address the following questions: 1) Are area 46 neurons capable of providing the signals needed for saccade initiation and target selection? 2) Is the representation of space in area 46 stable and robust in the face of ongoing motor activity? 3) Can the activity of individual neurons in area 46 support the planning of more than one type of movement? The overall goal is to determine whether area 46 plays specific role in the planning and execution of particular movements or a more general role in providing a multi-purpose representation of space that can be used by several effector systems as well as guiding covert shifts of spatial attention. The issues dealt with in this proposal are of practical importance to sufferers of psychiatric disorders who lack the ability to maintain appropriate control over their actions, and also those who are unable to initiate or control voluntary movements due to Parkinson's disease, stroke, epilepsy or other forms of neurological damage. The proposed experiments should provide useful information about the cognitive and motor function of prefrontal cortex. This will aid in the understanding of frontal lobe diseases such as schizophrenia and frontal lobe epilepsy.

该提议关注大脑如何构建其 视觉空间的表示以及如何在 运动计划和控制。 关于关系有很多看法 在视觉空间意识和自愿行动之间。 一种观点是 我们认为统一的意识不过是总和 总共相互作用的多数低级感觉运动程序 与物理世界。另一个观点是大脑明确 构建一个“心理工作空间”或通用表示 独立于任何特定效应子系统的空间，并且 它使用此表示形式进行运动计划。 注意和工作 记忆是此高级空间的重要组成部分 表示。 大脑的哪些部分可能涉及形成 这样的代表？ 一个有希望的候选人是前额叶的46区 皮质。 以前的工作表明，区域46神经元编码 行为相关的视觉刺激的位置并持有这些 在工作内存任务中的在线表示，包括内存 - 指导的扫视任务。 当前的提议检查了关系 在46区域的神经元活动与SACCADIC EYE的编程之间 运动和视觉引导的手臂运动。 将进行三个实验 解决以下问题：1）面积46个神经元能够 提供扫视起始和目标所需的信号 选择？ 2）是区域46稳定的空间的代表 面对持续的运动活动的强大？ 3）可以 区域46中的个别神经元支持多种类型的计划 运动？ 总体目标是确定面积46播放 在计划和执行特定运动或 在提供空间的多功能表示方面更为一般的作用 可以由多个效应系统以及指导秘密使用 空间关注的转变。 该提案中处理的问题对于 缺乏维持能力的精神疾病的患者 适当控制他们的行动，以及那些无法 启动或控制由于帕金森氏病引起的自愿运动， 中风，癫痫或其他形式的神经系统损害。 提议 实验应提供有关认知和 前额叶皮层的运动功能。 这将有助于理解 额叶疾病（如精神分裂症和额叶） 癫痫。