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

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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.