Dissecting the neural circuits for face perception in macaque inferotemporal cort

剖析猕猴颞下皮质面部感知的神经回路

基本信息

批准号：
7890394
负责人：
Doris Ying Tsao
金额：
$ 54.53万
依托单位：
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
财政年份：
2009
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
2009-08-01 至 2014-07-31
项目状态：
已结题

项目摘要

Description (provided by applicant): The goal of this proposal is to understand the neural circuits of the macaque brain mediating face perception. Faces are among the most meaningful visual forms processed by the primate brain, conveying information about identity, expression, gender, age, and direction of attention. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) reveals a specialization for face processing in the macaque temporal lobe: six discrete regions of cortex respond much more strongly to images of faces than to images of other objects. The degree of specialization of these regions for faces is breathtaking: when targeted for single-unit recording, all four regions tested extensively so far turned out to consist almost entirely of face-selective cells. These regions, termed "face patches", are located at similar positions in the two hemispheres and across individuals. Experiments combining fMRI with microstimulation demonstrate that the face patches are strongly and specifically interconnected, yet electrophysiological experiments show that different patches are functionally distinct. The face patch system offers a unique opportunity to dissect the neural mechanisms underlying form perception, because the system is specialized to process one class of complex forms, and because its computational components are spatially segregated. We believe the central experimental challenge to understanding the face patch system is to understand the functional specialization of each patch and how this specialization comes about. To address this challenge, we plan to interrogate the system from four directions: 1) Representations: What are the selectivity and invariance properties of cells in each face patch?, 2) Behavioral Role: What is the effect of inactivating specific face patches on various face-related behaviors?, 3) Connectivity: What is the wiring diagram of the face patches?, and 4) Transformations: What are the key functional differences between input and output cells within each face patch? Addressing these questions will elucidate the principles of information flow within the face patch system and shed light on the general organizing principles of inferotemporal cortex. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: A sizable fraction of humans suffer from "prosopagnosia", a selective inability to recognize faces; our basic research on the face system in macaques aims to gain new insights concerning the brain circuits that are altered in prosopagnosics. Faces are by far the most socially significant class of visual stimuli that we perceive, and our results may shed new light on disorders of social cognition such as autism and social anxiety disorder.

描述（由申请人提供）：该提案的目的是了解猕猴脑部介导面部感知的神经回路。面孔是灵长类动物大脑处理的最有意义的视觉形式之一，传达了有关身份，表达，性别，年龄和注意力方向的信息。功能性磁共振成像（fMRI）揭示了猕猴颞叶中面部处理的专业：皮质的六个离散区域对面部图像的反应要比对其他物体的图像更为强烈。这些区域对面部的专业化程度令人叹为观止：当针对单单元记录时，所有四个区域都经过了广泛的测试，到目前为止，几乎完全由面部选择性细胞组成。这些被称为“面斑”的区域位于两个半球和跨个体的相似位置。 FMRI与微刺激结合的实验表明，面部斑块是强烈，特异性相互联系的，但电生理实验表明，不同的斑块在功能上是不同的。面部贴片系统提供了一个独特的机会，可以剖析形式感知的神经机制，因为该系统专门处理一类复杂形式，并且因为其计算组件在空间上被隔离。我们认为，了解面部贴片系统的主要实验挑战是了解每个贴片的功能专业化以及这种专业化如何产生。为了应对这一挑战，我们计划从四个方向询问系统：1）表示细胞在每个面部中的选择性和不变性特性是什么？解决这些问题将阐明面部贴片系统内的信息流的原理，并阐明颞下颞皮质的一般组织原理。公共卫生相关性：大量人类患有“ Prosopagnosia”，这是一种选择性识别面孔的选择性；我们对猕猴面部系统的基础研究旨在获得有关脑电路改变的新见解。面孔是迄今为止我们所感知的最重要的视觉刺激类别，我们的结果可能会对社会认知障碍（例如自闭症和社交焦虑症）的疾病发明新的启示。