NIH Gonzalez-Amoretti Characterizing PopulationDynamics of Prefrontal Cortex which Govern the Modulation of Visual Processing

NIH Gonzalez-Amoretti 描述了控制视觉处理调节的前额叶皮层的群体动态

• 批准号: 10748169
• 负责人: John Carl Gonzalez-Amoretti
• 金额: $ 4.77万
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-08-21 至 2027-08-20
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10748169
• 关键词: Address; Affect; Area; Attention; Attentional deficit; Behavioral; Brain; Brain region; Chronic; Classification; Code; Cognitive; Communication; Communities; Dementia; Detection; Diagnostic; Disease; Environment; Exhibits; Fellowship; Fostering; GABA Agonists; Goals; Implant; Individual; Knowledge; Lead; Learning; Location; Mediating; Mental disorders; Monkeys; Motor; Muscimol; Nature; Neurodegenerative Disorders; Neurologic; Neurons; Neuropsychology; Patients; Perception; Physiological; Population; Population Analysis; Positioning Attribute; Prefrontal Cortex; Process; Property; Reaction Time; Reporting; Research; Resolution; Response Latencies; Role; Saccades; Sampling; Schizophrenia; Signal Transduction; Social Environment; Stimulus; Symptoms; Training; Traumatic Brain Injury; United States National Institutes of Health; Visual; Visual attention; Visuospatial; Work; area V4; aspirate; attentional modulation; career; cognitive process; covert attention; design; frontal eye fields; improved; inferotemporal cortex; multi-electrode arrays; neurophysiology; outreach; pharmacologic; pre-clinical; response; signal processing; skills; spatiotemporal; visual control; visual motor; visual processing; visual search

Project Summary/Abstract The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is widely reported to play a role in visual attention, employed through modulation of neuronal activity in visual processing regions, such as V4 and MT. Sub-regions within the PFC of monkeys, such as the frontal eye fields (FEF) and the ventral prearcuate region (VPA), are reported to govern spatial and feature-based attentional modulation of visual responses, respectively. However, the cellular-level circuitry and neurocomputational mechanisms involved in the modulatory control of visual processing remain unclear. Previous work suggests that interactions between diverse sub-populations in both FEF and VPA may facilitate modulation of visual processing signals as well as shifts of attention, but this remains untested. The purpose of my project is to determine the neuronal dynamics within sub-regions in PFC that govern top- down modulation of visual processing. It is possible, that FEF may integrate signals representing object identity which arise in VPA and transforms them to signals representing spatial locations of a target stimulus. We plan on addressing this hypothesis by: (1) characterizing the spatial- and feature-tuning properties of FEF in the context of visual search to understand how integration and transformation of attentional signals may be implemented; (2) establishing the temporal dynamics between FEF and VPA to reveal the nature of neuronal communication between both regions during visual search; and (3) determine the causal role of VPA towards feature-based attentional modulation of visual processing via reversible pharmacologic inactivation. Monkeys are trained on a visual search task designed to conditionally engage attentional processes that are dependent on feature or spatial information. Using neurophysiology and population analyses, we will determine the neuronal correlates of PFC which govern the computational processes needed to accomplish these tasks. These findings will provide a description of the circuit-level mechanisms involved in top-down attention which often times is affected in neuropsychological disorders and neurodegenerative diseases. Thus, this project aims to contribute knowledge concerning the neuronal correlates of visual processing that are involved in related underlying symptoms. Additionally, learning about how higher-level brain regions modulate visual processing may provide more information about how perception is conjured in the brain. My environment at UR fosters the opportunity to broaden my research skillset which ultimately facilitates my endeavor towards my career goal as a scientific leader pushing to improve our approach of intervening with mental illnesses. The social environment at UR provides great opportunity for outreach, allowing me to fulfill my aspirations as a community leader looking to pave a way for underrepresented individuals which get overlooked given their backgrounds.

项目概要/摘要 据广泛报道，前额皮质 (PFC) 通过调节在视觉注意力中发挥作用 视觉处理区域（例如 V4 和 MT）的神经元活动。猴子 PFC 内的子区域， 据报道，诸如额叶视野 (FEF) 和腹侧前弓区 (VPA) 控制着空间和 分别基于特征的视觉反应注意力调节。然而，细胞级电路和 参与视觉处理调节控制的神经计算机制仍不清楚。 先前的研究表明，FEF 和 VPA 中不同亚群之间的相互作用可能会促进 视觉处理信号的调制以及注意力的转移，但这尚未经过测试。目的 我的项目的目的是确定 PFC 中控制顶部的子区域内的神经元动态 视觉处理的下调。 FEF 可能会集成表示对象的信号 VPA 中出现的同一性并将其转换为代表目标刺激空间位置的信号。 我们计划通过以下方式解决这一假设：(1) 表征 FEF 的空间和特征调整特性 在视觉搜索的背景下，了解注意力信号的整合和转换是如何进行的 实施的; (2)建立FEF和VPA之间的时间动态来揭示神经元的本质 视觉搜索期间两个区域之间的通信； (3) 确定 VPA 的因果作用 通过可逆药理失活对视觉处理进行基于特征的注意力调节。猴子 接受视觉搜索任务的训练，该任务旨在有条件地参与依赖于的注意力过程 特征或空间信息。利用神经生理学和群体分析，我们将确定神经元 PFC 的相关性控制着完成这些任务所需的计算过程。这些发现 将提供自上而下注意力所涉及的电路级机制的描述，这通常是 受神经心理疾病和神经退行性疾病的影响。因此，该项目旨在贡献 关于视觉处理的神经元相关性的知识，涉及相关的基础 症状。此外，了解更高级别的大脑区域如何调节视觉处理可能会提供 有关大脑如何产生感知的更多信息。我在 UR 的环境创造了机会 扩大我的研究技能，最终促进我努力实现科学工作者的职业目标 领导者推动改进我们干预精神疾病的方法。 UR 的社会环境 提供了很好的外展机会，使我能够实现作为社区领袖的愿望 为因背景而被忽视的代表性不足的个人铺平道路。