CRCNS: Dynamical Constraints on Neural Population Activity

CRCNS：神经群体活动的动态约束

基本信息

批准号：
9906941
负责人：
Aaron Paul Batista
金额：
$ 29.92万
依托单位：
CARNEGIE-MELLON UNIVERSITY
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
财政年份：
2017
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
2017-07-01 至 2022-03-31
项目状态：
已结题

项目摘要

Cognition and behavior unfold over time. The temporal aspects of thought and action reflect, at least in part, the temporal evolution of the activity of the populations of neurons that control them. It has long been hypothesized that the time course of neural activity arises from dynamical constraints imposed by the underlying neural circuitry. However, this has been difficult to show experimentally because it requires the ability to finely perturb neural activity in varied ways. Here, we propose to employ a brain-computer interface (BCI) paradigm to study neural dynamics. A BCI enables us to perturb neural activity by harnessing the animal's volitional control to drive the activity of a population of neurons into configurations that we specify. In this way, we can perform causal tests of dynamical constraints and their relation to behavior. We will study dynamical constraints imposed by motor preparation using multi-neuronal activity recorded in the motor cortex of macaque monkeys. We hypothesize that dynamical constraints exist in the motor cortex, and that these constraints are shaped during motor preparation to drive arm movements. To test these hypotheses, we will first challenge the animals to violate the putative dynamical constraints. Then, we will test the hypothesis that motor preparation sets up dynamical constraints appropriate for the upcoming arm movement. Finally, we will use the BCI paradigm to perturb neural activity during movement preparation to alter and evoke arm movements. Taken together, our proposed work will likely lead to a richer understanding of how networks of neurons give rise to population dynamics, and how those dynamics relate to neural computation and behavior.

认知和行为随着时间的推移而展开。思想和行动的时间方面至少部分地反映了控制它们的神经元群体活动的时间演变。早已是假设神经活动的时间过程是由施加的动态约束引起的潜在的神经回路。然而，这很难通过实验证明，因为它需要以各种方式精细扰乱神经活动的能力。在这里，我们建议采用脑机接口（BCI）研究神经动力学的范式。 BCI 使我们能够通过利用动物的意志控制驱动神经元群的活动进入我们指定的配置。通过这种方式，我们可以对动态约束及其与行为的关系进行因果检验。我们将使用记录中的多神经元活动研究运动准备所施加的动态约束猕猴的运动皮层。我们假设运动皮层中存在动态约束，这些约束是在运动准备期间形成的，以驱动手臂运动。为了测试这些假设，我们将首先挑战动物违反假定的动力学约束。那么，我们将测试运动准备设置适合即将到来的手臂的动态约束的假设移动。最后，我们将使用 BCI 范例来扰乱运动准备期间的神经活动，以改变并引起手臂运动。总而言之，我们提出的工作可能会带来更丰富的成果了解神经元网络如何引起群体动态，以及这些动态之间的关系神经计算和行为。