Learning to see again: biological constraints on cortical plasticity and the implications for sight restoration technologies

学习再次看见：皮质可塑性的生物学限制及其对视力恢复技术的影响

• 批准号: 10738980
• 负责人: GEOFFREY M BOYNTON
• 金额: $ 3.75万
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-05-01 至 2026-04-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10738980
• 关键词: Adult; Area; Biological; Cells; Computer Models; Cues; Data; Electronics; Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Generations; Goals; Image; Implant; Lateral; Learning; Measures; Modeling; Occipital lobe; Participant; Patients; Physiological; Play; Prosthesis; Psychophysics; Recovery; Research; Retina; Role; Technology; Training; Vision; Visual; Visual Cortex; Visual Perception; Visually Impaired Persons; Work; experience; gene therapy; insight; neural; neurophysiology; novel; optogenetics; response; retina implantation; sight restoration

ABSTRACT The field of sight restoration has made dramatic progress: within a decade, many blind individuals are likely to be offered a wide range of options for sight restoration that depend on widely different technologies, including retinal implants, cortical implants and optogenetics. However, interactions between implant electronics and the underlying neurophysiology of the retina or cortex mean that the vision provided by most of these technologies will differ substantially from normal sight. What role does cortical plasticity play in helping patients make use of this artificial visual input? Over the past 15 years our research group has been generating computational models, developed using a combination of physiological and psychophysical data, which predict the percepts that patients might experience for a variety of sight recovery technologies. We propose to use these models to simulate, within visually normal participants, a critical neurophysiological distortion inherent in many sight restoration technologies: the simultaneous stimulation of on and off cells. Our goal is to see how training with this distorted input alters neural representations in object selective areas such as lateral occipital cortex (LOC). Using fMRI, we will measure neural responses to distorted and undistorted objects, before and after training with distorted input. One possibility is that learning to recognize distorted objects results in distorted object images becoming cues for previously learned neural representations within LOC. The alternative is that this training results in the generation of novel representations within LOC. This work will provide novel insights regarding the fundamental mechanisms of cortical plasticity by asking whether, in adulthood, it is possible to reconfigure the fundamental building blocks of visual perception?

抽象的 视野修复领域取得了巨大的进步：十年之内，许多盲目 可能会为个人提供各种依赖视力修复的选择 广泛不同的技术，包括视网膜植入物，皮质植入物和光遗传学。 但是，植入电子和基本神经生理学之间的相互作用 视网膜或皮层意味着大多数这些技术提供的愿景会有所不同 基本上是从正常视线中。 皮质可塑性在帮助患者使用这种人造视觉的情况下起着什么作用 输入？在过去的15年中，我们的研究小组一直在生成计算模型， 使用生理和心理物理数据的组合开发 人们认为患者可能会经历各种视力恢复技术。我们建议 使用这些模型在视觉正常参与者中模拟关键 许多视力恢复技术固有的神经生理失真：同时 刺激开关细胞。 我们的目标是查看这种扭曲的输入培训如何改变对象中的神经表示 选择性区域，例如外侧枕皮层（LOC）。使用fMRI，我们将测量神经 对输入扭曲的训练之前和之后，对扭曲和未发生的物体的响应。 一种可能性是学习识别扭曲的对象会导致扭曲的对象图像 成为LOC内以前学过的神经表示的提示。另一种是 该培训导致LOC内的新型表示产生。这项工作将 通过询问，提供有关皮质可塑性基本机制的新见解 是否可以重新配置视觉的基本构建块 洞察力？