Learning Shape Representation in Somatosensory Cortex and Their Applications to Upper Limb Prosthetics

项目摘要：1057644人的手、手腕和手臂是人体最复杂的部分之一。使用我们的手臂和手，人类能够执行极其复杂的功能，从涉及艺术设计的精细和灵巧的任务，到涉及演奏乐器的动态任务，再到涉及体育和劳动的强力任务。科学研究表明，即使看不到我们的手，一个人也可以毫不费力地用手识别数百种物体。不幸的是，迄今为止，没有一种手臂和手部假肢能够提供接近天然肢体的触觉。然而，众所周知，触觉对于人类有效地操纵和探索物体是必不可少的。因此，让截肢者融入社会并为他们提供为劳动力做出贡献的工具是一个挑战，除非为他们提供能够通过思想移动的假肢，以及感知假手触摸的东西。这项EAGER提案的具体目的是提高我们对大脑如何表征和学习触摸的科学知识，开发可植入的电子系统，直接与大脑交流触摸，并测试通过绕过猴子的手臂直接与大脑交流，为猴子提供触摸感觉的有效性。如果成功，这个高风险高回报的项目可能会让《星球大战：帝国反击战》中卢克·天行者的替代手臂成为现实。该项目将开发涉及神经科学和工程学的跨学科新知识。目标是直接记录和刺激大脑中通常代表触觉的部分。目前的研究表明，正常的触觉感知是由大群脑细胞（即神经元）的活动提供的。研究人员将研究使用电刺激恢复截肢者触觉的可能性，就像人工耳蜗恢复聋哑人的听力或视觉植入恢复盲人的视觉一样。他们计划利用大脑的自然表征，并使用新的电子电路来刺激动物大脑中代表运动和活动的大量神经元。最终，这项研究将导致对如何重建物体感觉的理解。在这项工作中，研究人员将培养学生拥有独特的神经科学、生物医学和工程技能，这些技能的结合对现代高科技卫生相关劳动力是无价的。他们计划对本科生和研究生进行培训，并让定期在实验室轮换的K-12学生参与这项研究。

Project Abstract: 1057644The human hand, wrist and arm make up one of the most complex portions of the human body. Using our arms and hands, humans are able to perform extremely complex functions, ranging from the delicate and dexterous tasks involved in artistic design, through dynamic ones involved in playing musical instruments, to forceful ones involved in sports and labor. Scientific studies demonstrate that, even without seeing our hands, a person can effortlessly recognize hundreds of objects with his hands. Unfortunately, none of the arm and hand prosthetics that have been developed to-date are remotely capable of providing touch sensation that approaches that of the natural limbs. Yet, it is known that the touch sensation is indispensable for humans to effectively manipulate and explore objects. So it is a challenge is to assimilate amputees into society and provide them the tools to contribute to the workforce unless they are provided prosthetics limbs that move by thought, as well as feel what the prosthetic hand touches. This EAGER proposal specifically aims to improve our scientific knowledge of how touch is represented and learned by the brain, develop electronic systems that can be implanted to communicate touch directly to the brain, and to test the effectiveness of providing the sensation of touch to a monkey by circumventing its arm and communicating directly to the brain. If successful, this high-risk/high-pay-off project could make Luke Skywalker's replacement arm in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back a reality.This project will develop new transdisciplinary knowledge involving neuroscience and engineering. The goal is to record and stimulate directly from the parts of the brain where the sense of touch is normally represented. Current research shows that normal perception of touch is provided by the activity of large groups of brain cells (i.e. neurons). The Investigators will study the possibility of using electrical stimulation to restore the sense of touch to amputees in the same way that cochlear implants restore hearing to the deaf or visual implants the sense of vision to the blind. They plan to exploit the natural representations of the brain and to stimulate, using new electronic circuitry, large groups of neurons that represent movement and from in the animals brain. Ultimately this research will lead to an understanding of how to recreate the feel of objects. Throughout this work, the investigators will train students to have unique neuroscience, biomedical, and engineering skills, a combination of which is invaluable to the modern high-tech health related workforce. They plan to train both undergraduate and graduate students and expose K-12 students who regularly rotate through their laboratories to the research.