Mechanisms of Attention in Early Visual Processing

感官世界中有丰富的信息，但主观经验和实验证明表明，神经系统在任何时刻有效处理这些混乱信息的数量是有限的。选择性注意提供了一种手段，生物体通过加强相关信息的处理和抑制不相关或分散注意力的事件来调节感觉信息的流动。对人类和动物的大量研究已经证实，注意控制机制影响大脑皮层内的视觉信息处理。然而，选择性注意的神经元机制在细胞和突触水平上仍然知之甚少。使用一种新的方法来测量注意力对已识别神经元之间突触通讯的影响。加州大学戴维斯分校的w·马丁·乌斯里（W. Martin Usrey）和乔治·r·曼根（George R. Mangun）正在确定注意力在大脑皮层处理过程的最初阶段的影响。在此过程中，他们正在测试几个长期存在的假设，包括自愿注意的空间组织、目标促进和干扰物抑制机制之间的相互作用、空间尺度在决定自愿注意选择位点中的作用、丘脑皮质机制在反射性注意中的作用，以及特定视觉通路对自愿和反射性视觉注意的贡献。该项目将促进发现和理解，同时通过研究生和博士后学者参与与该项目相关的本科生研究指导，促进教学、培训和学习。通过加州大学戴维斯分校暑期本科生研究计划（SURP）和青年学者计划（YSP）， PI和Co-PI还将指导对追求科学事业感兴趣的本科生和有前途的高中生。这些项目促进了代表性不足的群体，并为非研究型大学的学生提供了研究机会。该项目将通过交流项目加强国际合作。拟议的研究将在教育和卫生方面极大地造福社会。由于选择性注意是一个核心的认知过程，阐明人类的注意机制仍然是理解、诊断和治疗涉及注意缺陷的精神疾病的重中之重，包括注意缺陷多动障碍（ADHD）、自闭症、强迫症（OCD）和精神分裂症。改善这些疾病为促进教育和人类生产力提供了更多的机会。

The sensory world is rich in information, but subjective experience and experimental demonstrations reveal that the nervous system is limited in how much of this confused mass of information it can effectively process at any moment in time. Selective attention provides a means by which organisms regulate the flow of sensory information by enhancing the processing of relevant information and inhibiting irrelevant or distracting events. Numerous studies in humans and animals have established that attentional control mechanisms influence visual information processing within the cerebral cortex. However, the neuronal mechanisms of selective attention remain poorly understood at the cellular and synaptic levels. Using a novel method for measuring the effects of attention on synaptic communication between identified neurons, Drs. W. Martin Usrey and George R. Mangun of the University of California, Davis are determining the influence of attention at the earliest stages of processing in the cerebral cortex. In so doing, they are testing several long-standing hypotheses about the spatial organization of voluntary attention, the interactions between target facilitation and distractor suppression mechanisms, the role of spatial scale in determining the locus of selection in voluntary attention, the role of thalamocortical mechanisms in reflexive attention, and the contributions of specific visual pathways to voluntary and reflexive visual attention.The project will advance discovery and understanding while promoting teaching, training, and learning through graduate and postdoctoral scholar involvement in undergraduate research supervision related to the project. Via the University of California Davis Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP) and the Young Scholars Program (YSP), the PI and the Co-PI will also mentor undergraduate and promising high-school students interested in pursuing careers in science. These programs promote underrepresented groups and provide research opportunities for students from non-research colleges. The project will enhance international collaboration through exchange programs. The proposed research will strongly benefit society in education and health. Because selective attention is a core cognitive process, elucidating attentional mechanisms in humans remains a high priority in efforts to understand, diagnose and treat psychiatric conditions that involve deficits in attention, including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and schizophrenia. Ameliorating these disorders provide increased opportunities for advancing education and human productivity.