BRAIN EAGER: "ECOSTIM-MR"-Novel Multimodal Approach for High-Resolution Brain Research

高分辨率脑研究的新型多模态方法本研究项目的目标是开发一种新的方法和分析策略，用于在高场功能磁共振成像过程中同时进行高密度颅内电生理记录、脑电刺激和光遗传激活/失活。并将此综合方法应用于猕猴感官加工和选择性注意的神经机制研究。该项目将促进发现和理解，同时促进教学和培训，让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。因为选择性注意是一个核心的认知过程，阐明像猕猴这样的人类近亲的注意机制，对于理解、诊断和治疗涉及注意缺陷的精神疾病，如注意缺陷多动障碍（ADHD）、自闭症、强迫症（OCD）和精神分裂症，仍然是一个高度优先考虑的问题。我们所有的意识感知和认知行为都主要依赖于皮层回路所进行的神经计算，即大脑皮层中神经元所形成的连接网络。鉴于皮层回路在调节复杂行为中的核心重要性，我们有必要的工具来研究行为过程中的这些回路是至关重要的。目前还没有一种记录大脑活动的方法能够同时描述功能解剖和神经元活动的快速时间变化，同时具有高空间和时间分辨率。然而，通过高时间或高空间分辨率的不同方法的整合，本研究将开发能够提供支持行为的脑回路的时间过程和功能解剖视图的工具。

A Novel Multimodal Approach for High-Resolution Brain ResearchThe objective of this research program is to develop a novel methodology and analytic strategy for simultaneous high-density intracranial electrophysiological recording, electrical brain stimulation, and optogenetic activation/deactivation during high-field functional magnetic resonance imaging, and to apply this integrated methodology to investigate neural mechanisms that mediate sensory processing and selective attention in macaque. The project will advance discovery and understanding while promoting teaching and training by involving graduate students and postdoctoral scholars in undergraduate research supervision related to the project. Because selective attention is a core cognitive process, elucidating attentional mechanisms close relatives to humans such as the macaque remains a high priority in efforts to understand, diagnose and treat psychiatric conditions that involve deficits in attention, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and schizophrenia. All of our conscious perceptions and cognitive actions depend critically on the neural computations performed by cortical circuits, the network of connections made by neurons in the cerebral cortex. Given the central importance of cortical circuits in mediating complex behavior, it is critical that we have the tools necessary to study these circuits during behavior. No single method of recording brain activity is yet able to characterize both the functional anatomy and rapid temporal changes in neuronal activity with both high spatial and temporal resolution. However, by the integration of different methods with either high temporal or high spatial resolution, this research will develop tools capable of providing a view of the time course and functional anatomy of brain circuits supporting behavior.