Multisensory Form Processing in Extrastriate Visual Guide

人类的功能神经成像研究已经证实，在触觉任务中，许多视觉皮质区域被招募。有必要采用其他方法来描述这种视觉皮质活动在非视觉知觉过程中的作用和潜在的神经机制。在国家科学基金会的资助下，这项研究体现了Krishnankutty Sathian博士、John Foxe博士和Charles Schroeder博士之间的合作，将不同的技术应用到纹外视觉皮质的多感觉形式处理问题上。人类的功能磁共振成像(FMRI)正在与人类的事件相关电位(ERP)研究和猕猴的神经生理学研究相结合，使用这三种方法共同的实验设计。功能磁共振成像的高空间分辨率和事件相关电位研究的高时间分辨率是相辅相成的，可以指定神经活动的时间分布，以及精确的定位。猴子研究需要场电位和动作电位分析的结合，既可以与人类(ERP/fMRI)数据进行直接比较，也可以调查ERP和fMRI效应的细胞基础。具体目标一研究触觉形式辨别对视觉皮质活动的招募，具体目标二探索触觉形式知觉过程中视觉和触觉之间的多感觉交互作用。三种互补的实验方法组合在一组共同的问题上，使用一组共同的任务，是独特的，并有望提供有关神经过程的更完整的图景，而不是任何单独的方法。这种三方方法可以获得关于多感觉相互作用的特定大脑机制的趋同证据，这些机制越来越被认为是普遍存在的，对感觉处理以及认知的其他方面都是必不可少的。在其更广泛的影响中，该项目体现了在一系列问题上采用多种实验方法的价值。该项目预计最终将改进可用于任何类型感觉剥夺的个人的辅助技术。通过建立三个主要研究人员之间的长期合作，学生和博士后实习生将能够获得不止一种实验方法的专业知识，与不止一位导师互动，并进一步明确地在新兴的多感官科学领域进行培训，这是一个几乎没有正式培训机会的领域。

Functional neuroimaging studies in humans have established that many visual cortical areas are recruited during tactile tasks. Additional methodological approaches are necessary to characterize the role of such visual cortical activity during non-visual perception and the underlying neural mechanisms. With National Science Foundation funding, this research embodies a collaboration among Drs. Krishnankutty Sathian, John Foxe, and Charles Schroeder that brings different techniques to bear on the issue of multisensory form processing in extrastriate visual cortex. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in humans is being combined with event-related potential (ERP) studies in humans and neurophysiologic studies in macaque monkeys, using experimental designs common to the three methods. The high spatial resolution of fMRI and the high temporal resolution of ERP studies are mutually complementary and allow specification of the temporal profile of neural activity, as well as precise localization. Monkey studies entail a combination of field potential and action potential analyses that allow both direct comparison to human (ERP/fMRI) data and investigation of the cellular bases of ERP and fMRI effects. Specific Aim I investigates the recruitment of visual cortical activity by tactile form discriminations and Specific Aim II explores multisensory interactions between vision and touch, during tactile form perception. The combination of three complementary experimental approaches being brought to bear on a common set of questions, using a common set of tasks, is unique and promises to provide a much more complete picture of the relevant neural processes than any of the approaches in isolation. This tripartite approach allows the acquisition of convergent evidence on the specific brain mechanisms of multisensory interactions, which are increasingly recognized to be ubiquitous and essential for sensory processing as well as other aspects of cognition. Among its broader impacts, this project exemplifies the value of bringing multiple experimental approaches to bear on a set of issues. The project is anticipated to lead eventually to improvement in assistive technology available to individuals with sensory deprivation of any kind. By establishing a long-term collaboration between the three principal investigators, students and post-doctoral trainees will be able to acquire expertise in more than one of the experimental approaches, interact with more than one mentor, and further, train explicitly in the emerging field of multisensory science, a field with few formal training opportunities.