Neuronal mechanisms of attentional selection in primary auditory cortex

初级听觉皮层注意选择的神经机制

• 批准号: 7989114
• 负责人: Peter Lakatos
• 金额: $ 19.12万
• 依托单位: NATHAN S. KLINE INSTITUTE FOR PSYCH RES
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-12-01 至 2012-05-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/7989114
• 关键词: Acoustics; Action Potentials; Adaptive Behaviors; Address; Attention; Auditory; Auditory area; Auditory system; Behavioral; Brain; Cognitive; Complex; Cues; Data; Detection; Dimensions; Disease; Environment; Event; Frequencies; Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Goals; Human; Impaired cognition; Link; Macaca; Measures; Monkeys; Motor; Neurons; Phase; Physiological Processes; Process; Psychophysiology; Retina; Role; Sampling; Sensory; Sensory Process; Site; Source; Speech Sound; Staging; Stimulus; Stream; Structure; Symptoms; Synapses; Task Performances; Testing; Time; Ursidae Family; Visual Cortex; Visual system structure; base; behavior measurement; cognitive function; density; improved; indexing; instrument; neuromechanism; neurophysiology; neuropsychiatry; operation; public health relevance; relating to nervous system; response; selective attention; sensory stimulus; visual process; visual processing; Acoustics; Action Potentials; Adaptive Behaviors; Address; Attention; Auditory; Auditory area; Auditory system; Behavioral; Brain; Cognitive; Complex; Cues; Data; Detection; Dimensions; Disease; Environment; Event; Frequencies; Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Goals; Human; Impaired cognition; Link; Macaca; Measures; Monkeys; Motor; Neurons; Phase; Physiological Processes; Process; Psychophysiology; Retina; Role; Sampling; Sensory; Sensory Process; Site; Source; Speech Sound; Staging; Stimulus; Stream; Structure; Symptoms; Synapses; Task Performances; Testing; Time; Ursidae Family; Visual Cortex; Visual system structure; base; behavior measurement; cognitive function; density; improved; indexing; instrument; neuromechanism; neurophysiology; neuropsychiatry; operation; public health relevance; relating to nervous system; response; selective attention; sensory stimulus; visual process; visual processing

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Selective attention adapts sensory processing to the immediate goals of an observer by enhancing the neural representation of task relevant stimuli at the expense of irrelevant stimuli. Prior studies in both humans and monkeys show that attention modulates neuronal responses at every stage of visual processing after the retina. While auditory selective attention has been extensively studied in humans the topic is almost untouched by studies in monkeys. The broad goal of this R21 proposal is to initiate studies of the neural mechanisms of selective attention by direct electrophysiological recording in primary auditory cortex (A1) of the monkey. Accumulating evidence indicates that neuronal oscillations reflect organized rhythmic shifting of excitability in neuronal ensembles on different spatial and temporal scales, and that these oscillations are fundamental components of normal brain function with a crucial role in sensory, cognitive and motor operations. In particular, recent studies in visual cortex reveal that the structure of ongoing oscillatory activity can adapt or "entrain" to the temporal (rhythmic) structure of an attended sensory stimulus stream. Entrainment aligns the high excitability phase of neuronal oscillations with the timing of events in the attended stream, thus amplifying their neuronal representation. As rhythmic structure is essential to many biologically significant acoustic stimuli (e.g., speech sounds), oscillatory entrainment would appear particularly useful as a mechanism of attentional selection in the auditory system. This proposition has strong psychophysical support, but has not been directly tested at a neurophysiological level. We will evaluate the overall hypothesis that the entrainment of neuronal oscillations to the temporal structure of an attended acoustic stream results in enhanced neuronal responses to events that comprise that stream, and suppressed neuronal responses to stimuli that deviate from it along the two fundamental organizing dimensions of auditory processing, time (rhythm) and frequency. Behavioral measures, along with laminar current source density and multiunit activity profiles sampled in A1 during task performance will address the specific aims of defining the effects of 1) attended rhythm, and 2) attended tone frequency on auditory processing. Since attentional entrainment of neuronal oscillations appears critical to efficient, adaptive behavior in a complex environment, its disruption would likely result in cognitive impairment. Defining the neural underpinnings of attention entrainment is a crucial step in understanding the mechanisms of cognitive function and dysfunction. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Attention entrainment of neuronal oscillations is believed to be crucial to the effective use of ongoing physiological processes in adaptive processing of complex natural stimuli, yet the rules that govern it and its function are still largely unknown. We propose to explore oscillatory entrainment as a mechanism of auditory selective attention. Since deficits of auditory processing are key symptoms in numerous neuropsychiatric disorders, our findings will have important implications for improved understanding and treatment of these disorders, and for advancing our understanding of dynamic brain operations in general.

描述（由申请人提供）：选择性注意通过增强与任务相关刺激的神经表示，以牺牲无关的刺激来调整观察者的直接目标。对人类和猴子的先前研究表明，注意力在视网膜之后的视觉处理的每个阶段都调节神经元反应。尽管在人类中广泛研究了听觉选择性的关注，但在猴子的研究中，主题几乎没有影响。该R21提案的广泛目标是通过在猴子的原代听觉皮层（A1）中直接电生理记录来开始研究选择性注意的神经机制。 积累的证据表明，神经元振荡反映了在不同的空间和时间尺度上神经元集合中兴奋性的有组织的节奏转移，并且这些振荡是正常脑功能的基本成分，在感觉，认知和运动操作中具有关键作用。特别是，在视觉皮层中的最新研究表明，正在进行的振荡活性的结构可以适应或“夹带”，以适应参加的感觉刺激流的时间（节奏）结构。夹带将神经元振荡的高兴奋性阶段与所在流中事件的时机保持一致，从而扩大了其神经元表示。由于有节奏的结构对于许多具有生物学意义的声学刺激（例如语音）至关重要，因此振荡似乎是在听觉系统中注意力选择机制特别有用。该命题具有强大的心理学支持，但尚未在神经生理水平上进行直接测试。我们将评估总体假设，即神经元振荡对出现的声流的时间结构的夹带会导致对构成该流的事件的神经元反应增强，并抑制对刺激的神经元反应，这些刺激对刺激的神经元反应沿其沿其沿其沿两个基本组织的两个基本组织的刺激，时间（时间）（时间）（Rhytime（Rhrythm））。行为度量，以及在任务执行过程中A1中采样在A1中采样的层流源密度和多单位活动曲线将解决定义1）效果的具体目的，以及2）参加听觉处理的音调频率。 由于神经元振荡的注意力夹带对于有效的，在复杂环境中的适应性行为至关重要，因此其破坏可能会导致认知障碍。定义注意力夹带的神经基础是理解认知功能和功能障碍机制的关键步骤。 公共卫生相关性：神经元振荡的注意力被认为对于有效利用持续的生理过程至关重要，在适应性的复杂自然刺激的适应性处理中，但控制其功能的规则及其功能仍然在很大程度上尚不清楚。我们建议探索振荡作为听觉选择性关注的机制。由于听觉处理的缺陷是众多神经精神疾病的关键症状，因此我们的发现将对这些疾病的理解和治疗以及我们对整个动态大脑操作的理解具有重要意义。