The oscillatory control of selective attention: leveraging white matter microstructure and electrophysiology

大脑的感觉系统不断地受到一系列环境信息的轰炸，如形状、颜色、质地、声音和气味。事实上，信息远远超过大脑可以同时处理的数量。因此，对大脑有限的处理资源的竞争正在进行中。在国家科学基金会的资助下，John Foxe博士和他的研究团队正在研究脑电(EEG)记录中选择性注意的振荡信号与先前被认为与空间选择机制有关的大脑网络之间远程连接的微观结构之间的联系。最常被研究的选择性注意机制是空间选择，即环境中的一个位置相对于其他位置接受优先加工。空间选择的一个明显特征是，在处理与任务无关位置的大脑区域上，大脑电活动在特定频段阿尔法(约10赫兹)内的振荡幅度增加。这些振荡可以想象为正弦波，正弦波的波峰和波谷代表神经兴奋性的相对增加和减少。通过实验任务，参与者被提示注意一个空间区域，同时忽略空间其他区域的分心刺激，Foxe博士利用扩散张量成像(DTI)获得的脑电测量和大脑远程连接的结构测量。福克斯博士正在利用空间选择的振荡指数以及连接遥远大脑网络的神经元回路的微观结构，利用个体之间的广泛差异性。这两种神经成像技术(EEG和DTI)的配合，以及对大脑振荡和结构的个体差异的使用和探索，代表了研究选择性注意的新方法。这项工作旨在帮助我们理解神经振荡在感觉选择中的相关性，并指导关于选择性注意网络所使用的神经机制的假说的进一步发展。福克斯博士的实验室在翻译研究方面有着悠久的记录。本研究的结果将为临床人群中注意力选择障碍的研究提供基础性的理解。选择性注意障碍在几个临床人群中都存在，包括中风后空间忽视的个体，注意缺陷多动障碍(ADHD)，自闭症谱系障碍(ASD)和精神分裂症。此外，研究人员使用多种方法(EEG和DTI)将为研究生和博士后研究员提供极好的培训机会。掌握多种方法的专门知识，各有其独特的长处和短处，对于在神经科学领域取得成功的职业生涯正变得越来越重要。彻底理解神经科学中正在解决的日益复杂的问题，需要汇聚不止一个实验传统的发现。因此，人体成像技术的全面培训将为建立成功的研究事业提供一个极好的基础。

The brain's sensory systems are continually bombarded by a flurry of environmental information, such as shapes, colors, textures, sounds, and smells. In fact, there is far more information than the brain can process simultaneously. As a result, there is an ongoing competition for the brain's limited processing resources. With funding from the National Science Foundation, Dr. John Foxe and his research team are investigating the link between oscillatory signatures of selective attention in electroencephalography (EEG) recordings and the microstructure of long-range connections between brain networks that have been previously implicated in spatial selective mechanisms. The most frequently investigated mechanism of selective attention is spatial selection, where one location in the environment receives preferred processing relative to other locations. An observable signature of spatial selection is increased oscillatory amplitude of brain electrical activity within a particular frequency band, alpha (approximately 10 Hz), over brain regions that process task-irrelevant locations. These oscillations can be imagined as a sine wave, with the peaks and troughs of the sine wave representing relative increases and decreases in neural excitability. Using experimental tasks in which participants are cued to attend to one region of space, while simultaneously ignoring distracting stimuli in other regions of space, Dr. Foxe is EEG measures and structural measure of the brain's long-range connections obtained using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Dr. Foxe is leveraging the wide variability across individuals in both oscillatory indices of spatial selection as well as the microstructure of neuronal circuits connecting far-flung brain networks. The coordination of these two neuroimaging techniques (EEG and DTI), as well as the use and exploration of individual differences in brain oscillations and structure, represent novel approaches to the study of selective attention. This work aims to help us understand the relevance of neural oscillations in sensory selection and guide the further development of hypotheses regarding the neural mechanisms employed by networks of selective attention. Dr. Foxe's laboratory has a long record of translational research. The results of the present studies will provide foundational understanding from which to launch investigations into impairments of attentional selection within clinical populations. Selective attention is disordered in several clinical populations, including individuals with spatial neglect after stroke, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and schizophrenia. In addition, the researchers' use of multiple methodologies (EEG and DTI) will provide an excellent training opportunity for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. An expertise in multiple methodological approaches, each with their unique strengths and weaknesses, is becoming more and more important for a successful career in the neurosciences. A thorough understanding of the increasingly complex questions being addressed in the neurosciences requires converging findings from more than one experimental tradition. Comprehensive training in imaging techniques in humans will thus provide a terrific base from which to build a successful research career.