NCS-FO: Data-driven modeling of visual cortex

现代神经科学面临的巨大挑战之一是对大脑皮层功能的综合理论。本项目的总体目标是用一种新的视觉皮层模型来回答这一挑战。建模过程将导致发现众多视觉现象背后的共同、规范的神经机制，特别强调不仅在视觉皮层中而且在大脑皮层的其他区域中执行的规范计算。该项目旨在通过超越结构来研究皮层活动的动态，从而提高对皮层功能的理解。该项目更广泛影响的一个重要部分将是为年轻研究人员提供跨学科培训，以满足社会对受过良好教育的劳动力的需求，这些劳动力具有跨越数学和神经生物学的多学科技能。此外，主要研究人员将接触到广泛的科学观众以及高中生。具体地说，该项目的成果将通过在国家和国际科学会议上应邀作科学讲座的方式传播。调查人员还参加了由大学赞助的针对纽约市高中生的拓展活动，比如在纽约大学科朗数学科学研究所举办的年度C-Splash讲座。本项目采用综合策略，将动力系统理论的思想应用于理论神经科学。该项目将构建下一代视觉皮层模型，该模型在再现皮层动态及其视觉功能的方式上是真实而全面的。该模型将受到数百组视觉神经科学数据和所有已知皮质神经解剖学知识的限制。这样的模型是推进神经科学的工具，也是朝着构建模仿人类感知的机器人智能系统迈出的一步。视觉皮层将被建模为一个由脉冲、基于电导的神经元组成的大型网络。它将作为一个复杂的动力系统来分析。具体项目有：1)局部电路网络模型；2)覆盖视野大部分的视觉皮层扩展模型；3)在神经元尺度上对二维和三维物体的感知组织的动态相互作用。建模和分析将对视觉皮层以外的功能和动态结果的研究产生广泛的影响，这些结果是在整个大脑皮层中执行的规范计算。该项目由理解神经和认知系统的综合策略（NSF-NCS）资助，这是一个由计算机与信息科学与工程（CISE）、教育与人力资源（EHR）、工程（ENG）和社会、行为和经济科学（SBE）联合支持的多学科项目。该奖项由数学和物理科学理事会（MPS）数学科学司共同资助。

One of the great challenges of modern neuroscience is a comprehensive theory of the function of the cerebral cortex. The overall aim of the present project is to answer this challenge with a new model of the visual cortex. The modeling process will lead to the discovery of common, canonical neural mechanisms behind a multitude of visual phenomena, giving special emphasis to canonical computations that are performed not just in the visual cortex but also in other regions of the cerebral cortex. The project aims to enhance understanding of cortical function by looking beyond structure to study the dynamics of cortical activity. An important part of the project's broader impact will be to provide interdisciplinary training for young researchers in response to society's need for an educated workforce with multi-disciplinary skills bridging mathematics and neurobiology. Additionally, the principal investigators will reach out to broad scientific audiences as well as high school students. Specifically, the results of this project will be disseminated by giving invited scientific lectures to national and international scientific meetings. The investigators also participate in university-sponsored outreach events for New York City-area high school students, such as the annual C-Splash lectures at the NYU Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences. This project adopts an integrative strategy to apply ideas from dynamical systems theory to theoretical neuroscience. The project will construct a next-generation model of the visual cortex that is realistic and comprehensive in the way it reproduces the dynamics of cortex and its visual functions. The model will be constrained by hundreds of sets of visual neuroscience data and by all that is known about cortical neuroanatomy. Such a model is a tool to advance neuroscience and a step toward building robotic intelligent systems that emulate human perception. The visual cortex will be modeled as a large network of spiking, conductance-based neurons. It will be analyzed as a complex dynamical system. Specific projects are: 1) network models of local circuitries; 2) extended models of the visual cortex covering a substantial portion of the visual field, and 3) dynamical interactions on neuronal scale to perceptual organization of two- and three-dimensional objects. The modeling and analysis will have wide impact beyond visual cortex in studies of the functional, dynamical consequences of canonical computations that are performed throughout the cerebral cortex. This project is funded by Integrative Strategies for Understanding Neural and Cognitive Systems (NSF-NCS), a multidisciplinary program jointly supported by the Directorates for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE), Education and Human Resources (EHR), Engineering (ENG), and Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences (SBE). This award is co-funded by the Division of Mathematical Sciences in the Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS).