Doctoral Dissertation Research: The evolution of the neural basis of learning and behavioral control

该奖项的全部或部分资金来自《2021年美国救援计划法案》(公法117-2)。一个人经历的每一个想法、记忆和决定都是由大脑的不同部分产生的。虽然在理解不同大脑网络的功能方面已经取得了很大进展，但它们的进化仍然没有得到很好的描述。这一博士论文项目关注的是智力进化中的一个关键网络，皮质纹状体系统(Css)，它调节人类最杰出的认知适应中的两个学习和行为调节。研究人员测量了许多灵长类物种大脑皮质的神经解剖变异，从而增强了我们对大脑进化变化的理解，这些变化导致了人类智力和认知的出现。该项目还包括公共科学推广活动和开放源码数据的生成。这项研究的影响也超出了人类学科学，因为它为临床研究提供了关于特定物种对神经退行性疾病和成瘾的易感性的信息。本项目研究了灵长类动物CS的相对大小和连接性。由于纹状体的特定亚区调节不同的学习模式和行为控制阶段，研究者量化了三个纹状体核团的相对体积的变化，以了解基于css的学习和行为优化是如何在灵长类动物中进化的。纹状体亚区的连通性在不同物种之间被测量，以阐明可能与物种特定行为需求有关的皮质-纹状体通路的选择。该项目使用系统发育比较方法来模拟不同分类水平(例如灵长目、花柱亚目、人类属)特定功能成分的比例和进化速率的变化。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2). Every thought, memory, and decision that someone experiences is created by different parts of the brain. And while great progress has been made in understanding the functions of diverse brain networks, their evolution remains less well characterized. This doctoral dissertation project focuses on a crucial network in the evolution of intelligence, the cortico-striatal system (CSS), which mediates learning and the regulation of behavior, two of the most outstanding cognitive adaptations in humans. The investigator measures the neuroanatomical variation of the CSS across many primate species, thereby enhancing our understanding of the evolutionary changes in the brain that led to the emergence of human intelligence and cognition. The project also includes public science outreach activities and generation of open source data. This research also has impact beyond the anthropological sciences by informing clinical research on species-specific vulnerability to neurodegenerative diseases and addiction.This project studies the relative size and connectivity of the CSS across primates. As specific subregions of the striatum mediate different modes of learning and stages of behavioral control, the investigator quantifies the variation of the relative volumes of the three striatal nuclei to understand how CSS-based learning and behav-ioral optimization have evolved in primates. The connectivity of the striatal subregions is measured across pri-mates to elucidate selection on cortico-striatal pathways that may relate to species-specific behavioral de-mands. The project employs phylogenetic comparative methods to model changes in scaling and rates of evolu-tion of functionally specific components of the CSS at different taxonomic levels (e.g., primate order, anthro-poid suborder, human genus).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.