An EEG investigation of temporal orienting of attention for goal-directed eye and hand movements

该奖项是作为NSF社会、行为和经济学博士后研究奖学金(SPRF)计划的一部分提供的。SPRF计划的目标是为学术界、工业界或私营部门和政府的科学职业生涯培养有前途的、早期职业博士水平的科学家。SPRF奖项包括在知名科学家的赞助下进行两年的培训，并鼓励博士后研究员进行独立研究。国家科学基金会致力于促进科学界所有阶层的科学家参与其研究方案和活动，包括那些来自代表性不足的群体的科学家；博士后阶段被认为是实现这一目标的专业发展的一个重要水平。每个博士后研究员都必须解决推动各自学科领域向前发展的重要科学问题。在布朗大学宋俊贤博士的赞助下，这一博士后奖学金奖项支持一位早期职业科学家，他研究目标定向的眼睛和手的运动中注意力的时间定向机制。利用环境中的时间规律性，我们可以将注意力定向到特定的时间点，以选择并确定即将到来的相关事件的优先顺序。这种被称为时间定向的能力可以在许多日常情况下促进即将到来的感知和行动，比如估计开车时黄灯的持续时间，大约在什么时候挥杆打网球，或者决定什么时候跳到对话中。时间定向的研究主要集中在知觉上，揭示了时间定向调节知觉及其行为和神经后果的神经机制。虽然时间定向对行动可能特别重要，但它对行动的影响仍有许多未知之处。时间定向如何有助于在时间上精确地计划和执行行动，如目标导向的扫视和触觉？时间定向对眼睛和手运动的影响依赖于不同的还是重叠的神经机制？这个项目旨在回答这些问题，从而揭示时间知觉、注意力和行动之间相互作用的原理。该项目的成果具有潜在的技术和临床意义；它们可以为为运动控制开发的脑机接口技术、用于航空和汽车工业等领域的有效信息处理方法和接口设计，以及用于涉及运动控制和计时缺陷的神经疾病的康复计划提供信息。本研究采用眼球和手部追踪结合脑电的方法，研究了注意的时间定向对目标定向的眼跳和眼跳的影响的神经机制。具体地说，本项目旨在通过检验以下假设来揭示时间定向对眼睛和手部运动控制的影响：时间定向通过在运动控制的全局水平上发挥作用，然后在运动控制的效应者特定水平上发挥作用，从而有助于在时间上精确地控制眼睛和手的运动。考虑了不同的时间结构产生的时间定向的影响，如目标驱动的时间期望(使用目标时间的概率变化)和刺激驱动的时间启动(使用顺序重复而不是目标时间的切换)，以获得更完整的图景。通过使用多种脑电数据分析方法从多维脑电信号中提取尽可能多的信息，并通过重复加强探索性分析，该项目有可能全面了解目标定向的眼睛和手运动的神经机制，以及由各种时间结构产生的时间定向如何提供调制运动控制的预期信号。总体而言，该项目的成果将有助于更统一的关注和行动框架。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This award was provided as part of NSF's Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences Postdoctoral Research Fellowships (SPRF) program. The goal of the SPRF program is to prepare promising, early career doctoral-level scientists for scientific careers in academia, industry or private sector, and government. SPRF awards involve two years of training under the sponsorship of established scientists and encourage Postdoctoral Fellows to perform independent research. NSF seeks to promote the participation of scientists from all segments of the scientific community, including those from underrepresented groups, in its research programs and activities; the postdoctoral period is considered to be an important level of professional development in attaining this goal. Each Postdoctoral Fellow must address important scientific questions that advance their respective disciplinary fields. Under the sponsorship of Dr. Joo-Hyun Song at Brown University, this postdoctoral fellowship award supports an early career scientist investigating the mechanisms of temporal orienting of attention in goal-directed eye and hand movements. Using temporal regularities in the environment, we can orient attention to specific points in time to select and prioritize an upcoming relevant event. This ability, called temporal orienting, can then facilitate upcoming perception and action in many everyday situations such as estimating the duration of a yellow traffic light when driving, approximating when to swing at a tennis ball, or deciding when to jump into a conversation. Research on temporal orienting has mostly focused on perception, uncovering the neural mechanisms by which temporal orienting modulates perception and its behavioral and neural consequences. While temporal orienting may be especially important for action; much is still unknown about its effects on action. How may temporal orienting contribute to the temporally precise planning and execution of actions such as goal-directed saccades and reaches? Do the effects of temporal orienting on eye and hand movements rely on distinct or overlapping neural mechanisms? This project aims to answer these questions and thereby uncover the principles about the interplay between time perception, attention, and action. The outcomes of the project have potential technological and clinical implications; they can inform brain-computer interface technology developed for motor control, effective information processing methods and interface design used in domains such as aviation and automotive industry, as well as rehabilitation programs used for neurological disorders involving motor control and timing deficits. This project investigates the neural mechanisms by which temporal orienting of attention influences goal-directed saccades and reaches using eye- and hand-tracking combined with electroencephalography (EEG). Specifically, this project aims to reveal the motor effector-general and/or effector-specific influences of temporal orienting on ocular and manual motor control by testing the hypothesis that temporal orienting contributes to the temporally precise control of eye and hand movements by exerting its effects at a global level of motor control followed by effector-specific level of motor control. The effects of temporal orienting generated by different temporal structures such goal-driven temporal expectation (using probabilistic variations in target timing) and stimulus-driven temporal priming (using sequential repetitions versus switches in target timing) are considered to gain a more complete picture. By using multiple EEG data analysis methods to extract as much information as possible from the multidimensional EEG signals, and reinforcing exploratory analyses by replication, this project has the potential to provide a comprehensive understanding of the neural mechanisms of goal-directed eye and hand movements as well as how temporal orienting generated by various temporal structures provides anticipatory signals that modulate motor control. Overall, the outcomes of the project will contribute to a more unified framework for attention and action.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.