Physiological and neurophysiological mechanisms for exploration and mistakes

探索和错误的生理和神经生理机制

• 批准号: RGPIN-2020-05577
• 负责人: Ebitz, R
• 金额: $ 2.77万
• 依托单位: Université de Montréal
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2021-01-01 至 2022-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=740667
• 关键词: Physiological; neurophysiological; mechanisms; exploration; mistakes

Why do we make mistakes? We have the capacity to identify the most rewarding course of action, yet we do not always choose it. Sometimes, "mistakes" are not really mistakes, but rather a form of exploration-meaning a drive to discover new opportunities and learn about the world. In an uncertain environment, some exploration is critical, even if it does not produce the most rewarding choice in the moment. However, my recent work suggests that the same exploratory mechanisms can cause mistakes when mistakes have no conceivable benefit. I believe that this happens, in part, because our brains evolved for a world that is always uncertain, where a little exploration was almost always advantageous. The long-term goal of this research program is to elucidate how endogenous, physiological processes alter how the brain responds in identical circumstances. This proposal will lay the foundation for this goal by investigating how endogenous, physiological processes influence exploration. The central hypothesis of this proposal is that exploratory mechanisms cause us to make mistakes both when they are useful and when they are not because exploration is driven by endogenous, arousal-linked fluctuations in the tuning of decision-making circuits. We will test different aspects of this hypothesis in two human behavioral aims and one primate electrophysiology aim. Our approach is unified by the observation that a physiological exploratory mechanisms would operate in real time, meaning it would vary over the seconds or minutes across which our bodies vary. In contrast, most current models of decision-making assume that behavior only varies in trial time-in units of discrete task events like trials and reward outcomes. Aim 1 will first determine whether exploration occurs in real time or trial time by manipulating the link between trial time and real time and asking whether this manipulation systematically changes the timing of exploration. Then, expanding on previous work by myself and others that links mistakes to autonomic arousal, Aim 2 will determine whether endogenous, real time cycles of arousal are sufficient to explain temporal variation in exploration. Finally, Aim 3 will harness our capacity for large scale recordings from populations of neurons to determine whether real-time fluctuations in arousal predict the disruptions in neuronal tuning that we find during periods of exploration. If my central hypothesis is correct, these studies will show that mistakes emerge from natural fluctuations in arousal and arousal-linked patterns of brain activity. Regardless of outcome, these studies will test an implicit assumption of many decision-making models and establish a research program at the intersection of cognitive neuroscience and physiology that my team and I will build on for decades as we elucidate how different aspects of cognition-including working memory, attention, and executive control-are changed by endogenous, real time physiological processes.

为什么我们会犯错误？我们有能力确定最有意义的行动方案，但我们并不总是选择它。有时，“错误”并不是真正的错误，而是一种探索形式，宣传发现新机会并了解世界的动力。在不确定的环境中，即使目前没有产生最有意义的选择，某些探索也是至关重要的。但是，我最近的工作表明，当错误没有可疑的好处时，相同的探索机制可能会导致错误。我相信这是在某种程度上发生的，因为我们的大脑在一个总是不确定的世界中演变而来的，那里的一些探索几乎总是有利的。该研究计划的长期目标是阐明内源性生理过程如何改变大脑在相同情况下的反应方式。该建议将通过研究内源性生理过程如何影响探索来为这一目标奠定基础。该提议的中心假设是，探索机制使我们在有用时犯了错误，并且当它们不是因为探索是由内源性，唤醒链接的波动驱动的，从而在调整决策电路时会犯错。我们将以两个人类行为的目的和一个灵长类动物的电生理目的来检验该假设的不同方面。我们的方法是通过观察到的，即生理探索机制将实时运行，这意味着它会在我们的身体变化的几秒钟或几分钟内变化。相比之下，大多数当前决策模型都认为行为仅在试用时间单位的离散任务事件（例如试验和奖励结果）中有所不同。 AIM 1将首先通过操纵试验时间和实时时间之间的联系并询问该操纵是否系统地改变勘探时间来确定勘探是实时还是试时间。然后，AIM 2扩大了自己和其他将错误与自主唤醒联系起来的工作，将确定内源性的，唤醒的实时周期是否足以解释探索的时间变化。最后，AIM 3将利用我们从神经元种群中进行大规模记录的能力，以确定唤醒中的实时波动是否可以预测我们在探索期间发现的神经元调整中的破坏。如果我的中心假设是正确的，这些研究将表明，脑活动的唤醒和唤醒连接模式的自然波动出现了错误。无论结果如何，这些研究都将检验许多决策模型的隐含假设，并在认知神经科学和生理学的交集中建立研究计划，因为我们和我的团队将在我们阐明认知方面的不同方面，包括工作，注意力记忆和执行控制如何通过内在的，现实的，现实的时间生理过程改变了认知方面的不同方面。