Adaptive allocation of attention during perception, working memory, and decision

感知、工作记忆和决策过程中注意力的适应性分配

基本信息

批准号：
8022733
负责人：
John T Serences
金额：
$ 36.45万
依托单位：
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
财政年份：
2010
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
2010-12-15 至 2015-11-30
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/8022733
关键词：
Accounting Affect Afferent Neurons Area Attention Attention Deficit Disorder Automobile Driving Awareness Ballistics Behavioral Binding Brain region Cancerous Clinical Cognitive Decision Making Detection Development Diagnosis Discrimination Disease Environment Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Gatekeeping Goals Human Image Individual Individual Differences Information Theory Intervention Knowledge Learning Measures Memory Methodology Methods Modeling Motion National Institute of Mental Health Nature Neurons Noise Pattern Perception Performance Play Population Probability Process Psychophysiology Research Proposals Role Sampling Sensory Shapes Short-Term Memory Signal Transduction Speed Stimulus System Techniques Testing Time Training Visual Cortex Visual Fields Visual system structure Work attentional modulation base brain behavior experience extrastriate visual cortex heuristics improved information processing insight neuromechanism novel operation pressure radiologist relating to nervous system response selective attention sensory stimulus sensory system skills success teacher tool trait transmission process visual search

项目摘要

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Human sensory systems are continuously bombarded with far more input than they can process. As a result, attentional mechanisms have evolved so that available capacity is dedicated to encoding only the most salient and behaviorally relevant stimuli in the environment. In turn, the most important stimuli dominate perceptual awareness and have privileged access to memory stores and to the neural mechanisms that control decisions about how to best interact with external objects. In this proposal, we will use the visual system as a model to understand the basic brain-behavior processes involved in selective attention influence perception, working memory, and the computation of sensorimotor decisions. In addition, we will develop and employ new methods that use fMRI to non-invasively study attentional modulations and the information encoding capacity of sensory systems, in line with the strategic aim of the NIMH to develop novel tools and methodologies for understanding how populations of neural cells work together within and between brain regions. Traditional accounts hold that attention operates to magnify the neural response evoked by important stimuli, which makes a stimulus easier to perceive. This general framework is intuitive, and has been successfully guiding empirical studies for more than three decades. However, recent theoretical work suggests that attention should not simply increase the gain of neurons tuned to a relevant stimulus. Instead, attention should modulate the activity of sensory neurons in a more dynamic manner in order to maximize the probability that a specific perceptual task will be successfully completed. Often times, this counterintuitively requires enhancing the activity of neurons that are most responsive to stimuli that are not physically present in the visual field, because these neurons carry more information about very difficult discriminations between similar items (e.g. when a radiologist searches for a cancerous mass in a low-quality x-ray image). Recent empirical studies support this general framework, and further raise the intriguing possibility that individual differences in the optimality of attention can predict overall performance on difficult discriminations as well as the ability to improve on difficult discriminations with practice (learning). Here, we will critically evaluate this new theoretical perspective, and we will also explore how differences in attention across individuals can influence the precision of short-term memory and the efficiency of simple decision making processes. Collectively, our goal is to provide insights into the operation of attentional mechanisms so that we can more precisely characterize how the system should ideally operate. In turn, this should dramatically improve our ability to isolate specific aspects of attentional processing that can sometimes go awry, thereby enabling more targeted diagnoses and interventions in clinical settings. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Whether listening to a teacher in a classroom or driving a car down the road, the ability to pay attention to important sensory stimuli in the environment is critical to success and survival. In the present research proposal, we will use the visual system as a model to better understand how attention selectively changes the activity of sensory neurons to promote more efficient perception, memory, and decision making. This knowledge will aid in the development of more objective tests for common disorders of attention - such as attention deficit disorder - so that diagnosis can proceed with greater precision and interventions can be started earlier.

描述（由申请人提供）：人类的感觉系统不断受到远远超出其处理能力的输入的轰炸。因此，注意力机制已经进化，使得可用的能力专门用于编码环境中最显着和行为相关的刺激。反过来，最重要的刺激支配着知觉意识，并有权访问记忆存储和神经机制，这些机制控制如何最好地与外部对象交互的决策。在本提案中，我们将使用视觉系统作为模型来理解选择性注意影响感知、工作记忆和感觉运动决策计算所涉及的基本大脑行为过程。此外，我们将开发和采用新方法，使用功能磁共振成像来非侵入性地研究注意力调节和感觉系统的信息编码能力，这符合 NIMH 的战略目标，即开发新的工具和方法来了解神经群体如何细胞在大脑区域内和大脑区域之间协同工作。传统观点认为，注意力会放大重要刺激引起的神经反应，从而使刺激更容易被感知。这个总体框架很直观，三十多年来一直成功指导实证研究。然而，最近的理论工作表明，注意力不应该简单地增加针对相关刺激的神经元的增益。相反，注意力应该以更动态的方式调节感觉神经元的活动，以便最大限度地提高成功完成特定感知任务的概率。很多时候，这违反直觉，需要增强对视野中实际不存在的刺激最敏感的神经元的活动，因为这些神经元携带更多关于相似物品之间非常困难的区分的信息（例如，当放射科医生寻找癌肿块时）在低质量的 X 射线图像中）。最近的实证研究支持了这一总体框架，并进一步提出了一种有趣的可能性，即注意力最优性的个体差异可以预测困难辨别的整体表现，以及通过实践（学习）改进困难辨别的能力。在这里，我们将批判性地评估这一新的理论观点，我们还将探讨个体注意力的差异如何影响短期记忆的准确性和简单决策过程的效率。总的来说，我们的目标是深入了解注意力机制的运作，以便我们能够更准确地描述系统的理想运作方式。反过来，这应该会极大地提高我们分离有时可能出错的注意力处理特定方面的能力，从而在临床环境中实现更有针对性的诊断和干预。公共卫生相关性：无论是在教室里听老师讲课还是在路上开车，关注环境中重要感官刺激的能力对于成功和生存至关重要。在本研究提案中，我们将使用视觉系统作为模型，以更好地理解注意力如何选择性地改变感觉神经元的活动，以促进更有效的感知、记忆和决策。这些知识将有助于针对常见的注意力障碍（例如注意力缺陷障碍）开发更客观的测试，以便更精确地进行诊断并更早地开始干预。