The Role of the Frontal Eye Fields in Pursuit Learning

额叶眼区在追求学习中的作用

• 批准号: 7918161
• 负责人: Jennifer Xinge Li
• 金额: $ 2.47万
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-08-01 至 2011-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/7918161
• 关键词: Accounting; Affect; Alzheimer' s Disease; Automobile Driving; Behavior; Behavioral; Brain; Brain Part; Brain region; Data; Diagnosis; Disease; Employee Strikes; Exhibits; Exposure to; Eye; Eye Movements; Frontotemporal Dementia; Functional disorder; Goals; Individual; Learning; Length; Light; Measures; Monkeys; Motion; Motor; Motor Cortex; Movement; Neurons; Neurosciences; Output; Patients; Performance; Play; Population; Property; Role; Sampling; Sensory; Series; Signal Transduction; Smooth Pursuit; Specificity; Stimulus; Testing; Time; Variant; Weight; Work; experience; eye velocity; frontal eye fields; frontal lobe; insight; member; motor control; motor learning; nervous system disorder; oculomotor; preference; relating to nervous system; research study; response; tool

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): An important aspect of motor learning is the accurate timing of movements. Smooth pursuit is an excellent behavior to study how the brain produces temporally precise learned movements. A pursuit target consistently changes its direction a fixed amount of time after it starts moving (the learning time). Upon repeated exposure to this stimulus, subjects leam to modify their smooth eye movement around the learning time. We propose to look for neural signals that control the timing of the learned eye movement in the smooth pursuit region of the frontal eye fields (FEFSEM). Different FEFSEM neurons are preferentially active during distinct temporal segments of smooth pursuit. In this proposal, we test the prediction, supported by our preliminary data, that changes in mean firing rate during learning are concentrated in FEFSEM neurons that prefer a temporal segment of pursuit around the learning time. First, we will compare changes in mean firing rate for the same learning time across neurons that prefer different temporal segments of pursuit. We will then examine how individual neurons modulate their firing rate during two separate learning blocks whose only difference is when the target changes direction. Our second goal is to determine whether learning modulates how different FEFSEM neurons contribute to the eye movement. The trial-by-trial correlation between the neural response and the behavioral response measures the extent to which a neuron's output reflects a motor signal that is shared across the neural population, and is therefore a valuable tool for assessing the functional properties of the population. Shifts in the neuron-behavior correlation can be attributed to a limited number of factors, including changes in the weighting of the neuron, the size of the neural pool that drives the eye movement, or the amount of neural synchrony within the pool. Combining the results from aim 1 and aim 2 will shed light on how learning alters the activity of FEFSEM neurons and their relationship to behavior. Many patients suffering from neurological disorders that involve frontal lobe dysfunction, such as Alzheimer's disease and frontotemporal dementia, exhibit striking oculomotor deficits. A better understanding of the role of the frontal cortex in oculomotor control may provide insight into how specific frontal circuits are disrupted in these diseases. A critical function of the healthy brain is to produce and control movements. Understanding how different parts of the brain are involved in motor control can help us safely diagnose problems with these brain regions by examining a patient's performance on simple motor tasks.

描述（由申请人提供）：运动学习的一个重要方面是运动的准确时机。平滑追求是研究大脑如何产生时间精确学习的运动的出色行为。追捕目标在开始移动后（学习时间）后，固定时间始终改变其方向。在反复接触这种刺激后，受试者会在学习时间周围修改其光滑的眼睛运动。我们建议寻找控制额眼田（FEFSEM）平滑追击区域中学习眼动的时间的神经信号。在平滑追求的不同时间段期间，不同的FEFSEM神经元优先活跃。在此提案中，我们测试了由初步数据支持的预测，即学习过程中的平均点火率的变化集中在FEFSEM神经元中，这些神经元更喜欢在学习时间周围的时间段。首先，我们将比较偏爱不同时间段的神经元中相同学习时间的平均点火率变化。然后，我们将检查单个神经元如何在两个单独的学习块中调节其发射率，唯一的区别是目标变化方向。我们的第二个目标是确定学习是否调节不同的FEFSEM神经元如何促进眼动。神经反应与行为反应之间的逐审相关性衡量神经元的输出反映了整个神经种群共享的运动信号的程度，因此是评估人群功能特性的有价值工具。神经元行为相关性的变化可以归因于有限的因素，包括神经元的加权变化，驱动眼动的神经池的大小或池中神经同步的数量。结合AIM 1和AIM 2的结果将阐明学习如何改变FEFSEM神经元的活动及其与行为的关系。许多患有涉及额叶功能障碍的神经系统疾病的患者，例如阿尔茨海默氏病和额颞痴呆，表现出惊人的动眼损伤。更好地理解额叶皮层在动眼控制中的作用，可以洞悉这些疾病中特定的额叶电路如何中断。健康大脑的关键功能是产生和控制运动。了解大脑的不同部位如何参与运动控制可以通过检查患者在简单的运动任务上的表现来帮助我们安全地诊断这些大脑区域的问题。