Detection of Coherent Motion by Synchronized Neuronal Oscillations

最近有报道称，神经细胞的快速振荡模式在大脑视觉皮质的多个区域之间是同步的。振荡的起源和功能尚不清楚，但它们对某些刺激的特异性和跨区域的同步性表明，它们可能与某些基本的视觉或认知功能有关。这个项目将测试视皮层的同步振荡是否与视觉感知有关。具体地说，它将测试一个新的想法，即大脑皮质区域的同步神经活动反映了一个由视觉刺激组装而成的具有凝聚力的视觉图像，这些视觉刺激以“连贯”的方式移动在一起。众所周知，大脑皮质中的单个神经细胞处理视觉图像的特定属性，如位置、方向、颜色和时间特征。这些实验将从视觉皮质多个位置的单个神经元进行记录，同时呈现独立的或连接到一致移动的对象的视觉刺激。这项测试将确定相干振荡是否只出现在刺激片段的连贯运动中。如果是这样的话，进一步的实验将探索连贯性如何与知觉相关。如果不是这样，人们对这种波动的兴奋可能会大大减弱。对这一新想法的有限研究将对视觉科学和神经科学产生非常高的影响，如果结果是积极的，影响也将延伸到认知科学。

Rapidly oscillating patterns of electrical potentials from nerve cells have been recently reported to be synchronized across multiple regions of the visual cortex of the brain. The origins and function of the oscillations are unknown, but their specificity to certain stimuli and synchrony across regions suggest they may relate to some fundamental visual or cognitive function. This project will test whether the synchronized oscillation in visual cortex is related to visual perception. Specifically, it will test the novel idea that the synchronous neural activity across a region of cortex reflects a cohesive visual image assembled from visual stimuli that move together in a "coherent" way. Single nerve cells in the cortex are known to handle specific properties of visual images, such as location, orientation, color, and temporal features. These experiments will record from single neurons at multiple sites in visual cortex while presenting visual stimuli that are either independent, or connected into a coherently moving object. This test will determine if the coherent oscillation appears only with coherent movement of stimulus pieces. If so, further experiments will explore how the coherence may be related to perception. There is a risk that if not, the excitement about such oscillations may considerably diminish. The impact of this limited study of this novel idea will be very high on visual science and neuroscience in general, and if the outcome is positive, the impact will extend to cognitive science as well.