Neural basis of the memory for sequences of events: A synergistic approach in rats and humans

记忆生活中某些事件何时何地发生的能力对生存和参与社会职能至关重要。这种能力被称为情景记忆，与海马体和前额叶皮质的功能有关。一些神经和精神疾病涉及到这些大脑区域的功能障碍。在国家科学基金会的支持下，加州大学欧文分校的诺伯特·福廷博士和同事克雷格·斯塔克博士将分别在人类和大鼠身上进行一系列创新的平行实验，预计这将有助于更好地理解正常和异常记忆功能背后的神经机制。这种跨物种的研究将利用一项可以由人类和大鼠执行的记忆任务，这对于从动物研究中得出与我们对人类记忆的理解和治疗缺陷相关的发现至关重要。该项目还将提供一个机会，制定有效的教育做法和材料，以促进早期科学培训和提高认识。这些教育活动特别强调在科学方面代表性不足的群体(妇女和少数族裔学生)，包括将在学生人数不同的学校开设的“记忆和大脑”讲习班，这些学校在加州标准考试的科学部分的表现也一直低于标准。尽管情景记忆已被广泛研究，但其神经生物学基础仍然难以捉摸。这种有限进展的一个主要原因是无法直接将用于动物模型(例如啮齿动物)的侵入性技术获得的证据与用于人类的非侵入性技术获得的证据联系起来，因为这两个物种对记忆任务的需求不同。Fortin博士和Stark博士将解决这一关键问题，他们将使用一种综合方法，结合大鼠的单细胞电生理记录和人类的BOLD fMRI，使用他们新开发的可以由大鼠和人类执行的序列记忆任务来研究情节记忆。这项跨物种研究将首次系统检查啮齿动物与人类海马亚区和前额叶皮质之间的功能对应关系，已知这两个区域在记忆和其他更高水平的认知功能中发挥着关键作用。从这项研究中获得的知识将极大地促进我们理解这些大脑结构对事件序列记忆的贡献，以及它们在学习和记忆、执行功能和决策中的基本作用。

The capacity to remember where and when certain events occur in one's life is of critical importance for survival and for participation in society function. This capacity, called episodic memory, is associated with the functions of the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex. Several neurological and psychiatric disorders involve dysfunctions in these brain regions. With support from the National Science Foundation, Dr. Norbert Fortin and colleague Dr. Craig Stark of the University of California at Irvine respectively will conduct an innovative series of parallel experiments in humans and rats, which are expected to contribute to a better understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying both normal and abnormal memory functions. This cross-species investigation will utilize a memory task that can be performed by humans and the rats, which is critical to make findings from animal studies relevant to our understanding of human memory and treatment of its deficit. This project will also provide an opportunity to develop effective educational practices and materials to promote early science training and awareness. These educational activities have a special emphasis on groups underrepresented in science (women and minority students), including a "Memory and the Brain" workshop that will be offered at schools with diverse student populations that also consistently perform below standard on the science portion of the California Standards Tests. Although episodic memory has been extensively investigated, its neurobiological basis remains elusive. A major reason for this limited progress has been the inability to directly link evidence obtained from invasive techniques used in animal models (e.g. rodents) with that from non-invasive techniques used in humans because of differences in the demands of memory tasks used across these two species. Drs. Fortin and Stark will address this critical issue by using an integrated approach combining single-cell electrophysiological recordings in rats and BOLD fMRI in humans, to study episodic memory using their newly developed sequence memory task that can be performed by both rats and humans. This cross-species study will provide the first systematic examination of the functional correspondence between rodent and human sub-regions of the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex, known to play a critical role in memory and other higher-level cognitive functions. The knowledge gained from this study will significantly advance our understanding of the contribution of these brain structures to the memory for sequences of events, as well as of their fundamental role in learning and memory, executive functions, and decision-making.