The Structure of Olfactory Neural and Perceptual Spaces

嗅觉神经和知觉空间的结构

基本信息

批准号：
10200169
负责人：
Sandeep R Datta
金额：
$ 68.61万
依托单位：
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
财政年份：
2019
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
2019-09-01 至 2024-05-31
项目状态：
已结题

项目摘要

Project Summary (Project 4: The structure of olfactory neural and perceptual spaces) It is not clear how stimulus-driven neural activity leads to perception. While this problem is typically approached from a feed-forward perspective — stimuli are systematically varied as neural activity and perception are monitored — the olfactory system poses a particular challenge, as the molecular stimulus space that drives neural responses is not well defined. Here we suggest an alternative approach: rather than working forward from receptors in the nose, we propose to work backwards from perception. That is, we will take advantage of a variety of conceptual and technical innovations to construct a new type of “ruler” that will allow us to accurately measure perceptual distances between odors, and then use this ruler to comprehensively map out the global structure of perceptual odor space, first in humans and then in mice. In parallel we will take advantage of advances in neural imaging technologies that give us, for the first time, access to cortical responses to odorants in awake mice. Important preliminary data demonstrates that the piriform cortex harbors a systematic and invariant representation of odor space, and that this space correlates with perceptual relationships amongst odors. By assessing both cortical and perceptual responses to the same odorant set, these experiments will reveal how information about odorant chemistry is organized in cortex, and how this information relates to perception, both in mice and in humans. Constraining the dimensionality and structure of neural and perceptual odor spaces, in a systematic and comprehensive fashion, will reveal key aspects of the input-output function of the olfactory system.

项目总结（项目4：嗅觉神经和知觉空间的结构）目前尚不清楚刺激驱动的神经活动如何导致感知，但这个问题通常是这样的。从前馈的角度来看——刺激最终随着神经活动和感知而变化受到监控——嗅觉系统提出了一个特殊的挑战，因为驱动的分子刺激空间神经反应尚未明确定义，在这里我们建议一种替代方法：而不是从头开始。鼻子中的感受器，我们建议从感知开始逆向工作，也就是说，我们将利用各种优势。概念和技术创新构建了一种新型“尺子”，使我们能够准确测量气味之间的感知距离，然后使用这个标尺来全面绘制出气味的全局结构感知气味空间，首先在人类中，然后在小鼠中同时，我们将利用神经学的进步。成像技术首次让我们了解清醒小鼠的皮质对气味的反应。重要的初步数据表明梨状皮层具有系统性和不变性气味空间的表示，并且该空间与气味之间的感知关系相关。通过评估皮质和感知对同一气味组的反应，这些实验将揭示如何有关气味化学的信息在皮层中组织，以及这些信息如何与感知相关在小鼠和人类中，限制神经和感知气味空间的维度和结构。系统而全面的方式，将揭示嗅觉输入输出功能的关键方面系统。