Neural Models of Behavior

行为的神经模型

• 批准号: 7656984
• 负责人: DANA H. BALLARD
• 金额: $ 33.16万
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-05-01 至 2012-04-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/7656984
• 关键词: Acceleration; Alzheimer' s Disease; Animals; Architecture; Arts; Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder; Automobile Driving; Behavior; Behavioral; Brain; Cell Nucleus; Clinical; Coffee; Cognition; Cognitive; Complex; Controlled Environment; Data; Development; Diagnosis; Diagnostic; Disease; Distal; Drug Formulations; Environment; Eye; FarGo; Fire - disasters; Gilles de la Tourette syndrome; Goals; Hand; Head; Human; Huntington Disease; Image; Interruption; Learning; Link; Location; Measures; Mediating; Methods; Modeling; Movement; Neurons; Performance; Peripheral; Play; Primates; Principal Investigator; Process; Property; Psychological reinforcement; Research; Rewards; Role; Services; Signal Transduction; Specific qualifier value; Stimulus; Structure; Tail; Tea; Techniques; Testing; Thinking; Time; Training; Upper arm; Vision; Visual; Walking; area striata; base; experience; fovea centralis; gaze; human data; human subject; instrumentation; multitask; neural model; neuromechanism; programs; public health relevance; research facility; research study; response; sample fixation; skills; theories; tool; virtual; virtual reality; visual information; visual process; visual processing

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Extensive research has provided a comprehensive understanding of the neural mechanisms of gaze deployment, but there is still a fundamental lack of understanding of the cognitive mechanisms that choose one possible fixation over another. Attempts to characterize these choices in terms of image properties have been a beginning, but at this point we can only go further by introducing cognitive factors. The proposed research uses driving in virtual reality as a controlled environment within which we can ask when and where fixations are made and what influences these choices. Driving is a complex but circumscribed skill that most subjects have extensive experience with. Our studies and those of others have demonstrated that other complex behaviors such as tea making and sandwich making can be readily seen as consisting as compositions of more elemental behaviors. Our modularized theory of behavior allows us to propose very specific testable hypotheses as to the deployment of gaze that are aimed at elucidating its essential link with cognition. Unique capabilities of our facility allow us to measure the eye, head and hand movements, as well as acceleration, braking and steering movements within the confines of a very realistic driving simulator that uses a state of the art Sensics wide field of view head-mounted binocular display (HMD). The simulator is mounted on a hydraulic platform that delivers realistic acceleration stimuli and the driver is immersed in a very complex cityscape driving venue rendered in real time on the HMD. Our theory is that the rules for the deployment of gaze are learned by reinforcement and based on reward-based optimality criteria. This theory is to be tested using human driving experiments as well as a human avatar driver that has realistic gaze movements with fixations. The avatar performs complicated tasks by decomposing them into essential modules. Each of the modules can achieve its goal by repeatedly recognizing crucial visual features in the scene and carrying out the relevant action. Our preliminary studies have successfully modeled human data from walking and making a sandwich and have suggested several hypotheses as to the conduct of human visually guided behaviors that we propose to develop and test using the more demanding virtual automobile driving environment. The proposed research will have three interrelated foci directed at three central questions in task-directed visual processing. 1. When is gaze deployed? Our theory suggests that gaze is deployed in the aid of the behavior that needs it the most. 2. Is the disposition of gaze reward-based? Since gaze is not easily shared among concurrent behaviors, there has to be some way of allocating it. This project will test a new analytical formulation that describes gaze competition in a multi-task situation. 3. How is visual alerting handled? How do humans recognize important interruptions from the visual environment? We will test a hypothesis is that a behavior for recognizing a new situation tries to successfully compete with the current behaviors by promising greater rewards. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: When we perform common everyday tasks, such as driving, making coffee or making a sandwich, we depend heavily on the ability to use our eyes. These eyes direct our actions by looking at the items we use in the task and also helping coordinate our arm and other body movements. We have a good idea how nerve cells make the eyes move from place to place, but we do not understand how our brain chooses one particular place over another. People have initially reasoned that image objects, such as a stop sign or a fire hydrant, are the main thing that commands our gaze, but we think its likely to depend on what people are thinking about from moment to moment. Our proposed research uses driving in virtual reality as a controlled environment where we can see where eye fixations are made and what influences these choices. Driving is a common skill with which most subjects have extensive experience and make similar eye fixations, so it's a good venue for our studies. Unique capabilities of our research facility allow us to measure the eye, head and hand movements, as well as acceleration, braking and steering movements within the confines of a very realistic driving simulator that uses a head-mounted binocular display (HMD). The simulator is mounted on a hydraulic platform that provides a sense of acceleration and the driver is immersed in a very complex cityscape that looks very much like reality. The combination of new instrumentation and analytical techniques proposed here should produce a detailed model of cognition that will help us understand disease-related cognitive problems in people and will spur the use of eye gaze in clinical diagnostic tools. Diseases like Schizophernia, Huntington's, Tourette's, Alzheimer's and ADHD all can be diagnosed through characteristically abnormal eye fixations. The even larger hope is that, by knowing how the eyes are used in these instances, we can get a general idea on how the brains function.

描述（由申请人提供）：广泛的研究提供了对凝视部署的神经机制的全面理解，但是仍然缺乏对认知机制选择一种可能的固定性而不是另一种可能的固定的认知机制。尝试以图像属性来表征这些选择的尝试已经开始，但是在这一点上，我们只能通过引入认知因素进一步发展。拟议的研究将虚拟现实中的驱动器用作一个受控环境，我们可以在其中询问何时何地进行固定以及什么影响这些选择。驾驶是一项复杂但限制的技能，大多数受试者都有丰富的经验。我们的研究以及其他的研究表明，诸如茶水制作和三明治制作之类的其他复杂行为很容易被视为是更元素行为的组成。我们的模块化行为理论使我们能够提出有关凝视旨在阐明其与认知基本联系的目光部署的非常特定的可检验的假设。我们设施的独特功能使我们能够在非常逼真的驾驶模拟器的范围内测量眼睛，头部和手部动作，以及加速，制动和转向运动，该驱动模拟器使用了最先进的感官范围的视野范围的视野范围，该视图范围内的头部安装了双眼显示（HMD）。模拟器安装在一个液压平台上，该平台提供了逼真的加速刺激，并且驾驶员沉浸在一个非常复杂的城市景观驾驶场地中，该驾驶场地是在HMD上实时渲染的。我们的理论是，通过加强和基于奖励的最佳标准来学习目光的部署规则。该理论将使用人类驾驶实验以及具有固定型凝视运动的人类化身驱动器进行测试。化身通过将其分解为基本模块来执行复杂的任务。每个模块都可以通过反复识别场景中的关键视觉特征并执行相关动作来实现其目标。我们的初步研究已通过步行和制作三明治成功地建模了人类数据，并提出了一些假设，即我们建议使用更苛刻的虚拟汽车驾驶环境来开发和测试人类视觉指导行为的行为。拟议的研究将有三个相互关联的焦点针对任务指导的视觉处理中的三个主要问题。 1。凝视什么时候部署？我们的理论表明，凝视是助长最需要的行为。 2。凝视奖励的处置是基于奖励吗？由于目光在并发行为之间不容易共享，因此必须有某种方式分配它。该项目将测试一种新的分析公式，该公式描述了在多任务状况下的凝视竞争。 3。如何处理视觉警报？人类如何认识到视觉环境中的重要中断？我们将检验一个假设是，识别新情况的行为试图通过承诺获得更大的回报来成功与当前行为竞争。 公共卫生相关性：当我们执行常见的日常任务，例如开车，煮咖啡或制作三明治时，我们在很大程度上取决于使用眼睛的能力。这些眼睛通过查看我们在任务中使用的物品并帮助协调我们的手臂和其他身体运动来指导我们的动作。我们有一个很好的主意神经细胞如何使眼睛在一个地方移动，但是我们不明白我们的大脑如何选择一个特定位置而不是另一个地方。人们最初认为，图像对象（例如停车标志或消防栓）是命令我们目光的主要因素，但我们认为它可能取决于人们一时的想法。我们拟议的研究将虚拟现实中的驱动器用作受控环境，我们可以在其中看到制作眼睛的位置以及影响这些选择的原因。驾驶是一项常见的技能，大多数受试者都有丰富的经验并进行类似的注视，因此这是我们学习的好场所。我们的研究设施的独特功能使我们能够在一个非常逼真的驾驶模拟器的范围内测量眼睛，头部和手动运动，以及使用头部安装的双眼显示（HMD）的加速度，制动和转向动作。模拟器安装在一个液压平台上，该平台提供了一种加速感，驾驶员沉浸在一个非常复杂的城市景观中，看起来非常类似于现实。这里提出的新仪器和分析技术的结合应产生详细的认知模型，这将有助于我们了解与疾病相关的认知问题，并将刺激眼睛凝视在临床诊断工具中的使用。诸如精神分裂症，亨廷顿，Tourette's，Alzheimer和ADHD等疾病都可以通过特征异常的眼睛固定来诊断。更大的希望是，通过知道在这些情况下如何使用眼睛，我们可以对大脑的运作方式有一个一般的想法。