Neural integration of electrocommunication signals encoded in parallel sensory processing streams.

在并行感觉处理流中编码的电通信信号的神经集成。

• 批准号: 426809286
• 负责人: Dr. Jan Grewe
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Institut für Neurobiologie
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Research Grants
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 德国
• 起止时间: 2018-12-31 至 2022-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/426809286?language=en
• 关键词: Neural; integration; electrocommunication; signals; encoded

Multisensory integration joins information provided by different senses into a unified percept. In situations of conflicting information it may lead to perceptional shifts such as the ventriloquist illusion. Combining congruent information from multiple senses, however, often improves behavioral performances by reduced reaction times or improved stimulus detection. Often, this integration is Bayes-optimal, that is, information channels are weighted according to their respective reliability. On the neuronal level, increased responsiveness, reduced response latencies, and improved phase locking have been described as effects of multisensory integration. How information from multiple channels is integrated has been investigated in a multitude of studies. Mathematical as well as phenomenological models have been developed to understand the guiding principles. However, our understanding of the physiolgical processes underlying these computational principles is still weak. In particular, electrophysiological data allowing to investigate the subthreshold mechanisms are missing. We will address this gap between theory and physiology in the context of the encoding of electrocommunication signals in the weakly electric fish Eigenmannia virescens. In Eigenmannia, communication signals, called chirps, are modulations of the fish's own electric organ discharge which stimulates three parallel electrosensory pathways. Initially, information is processed separately, but is eventually joined in the torus semicircularis (TS) of the midbrain, the teleost homolog to the mammalian inferior colliculus. Our previous analyses on the level of the electroreceptors suggest that chirp detection should be improved by combining information from the parallel pathways. By means of in vivo intracellular recordings of neurons in the parallel channels in the hindbrain and of integrating and non-integrating neurons in the TS we will gather the required data of pre- and postsynaptic activity to analyze the mechanism of integration in the subthreshold regime. With the proposed study we aim at open questions regarding the encoding of electrocommunication signals in integrating and non-integrating neurons in the hind- and midbrain. Based on the acquired data we will analyze the subthreshold mechansims involved in the integration processes in multichannel neurons in the TS. These will be interpreted in the context of the known theories of multisensory integration.

多感官整合将不同感官提供的信息连接成一个统一的感知。在信息冲突的情况下，它可能会导致感知上的转变，比如腹语者错觉。然而，结合来自多个感官的一致信息，往往通过减少反应时间或改善刺激检测来改善行为表现。通常，这种集成是贝叶斯最优的，即信息通道根据其各自的可靠性进行加权。在神经元水平上，反应性的增强、反应延迟的减少和相锁的改善被描述为多感觉整合的影响。如何整合来自多个渠道的信息已经在许多研究中进行了调查。数学模型和现象学模型都被用来理解这些指导原则。然而，我们对这些计算原理背后的生理过程的理解仍然很薄弱。特别是，电生理学数据允许调查阈下机制的缺失。我们将在弱电鱼特征鱼（Eigenmannia virescens）的电子通信信号编码的背景下解决理论和生理学之间的差距。在Eigenmannia中，被称为啁啾的通信信号是鱼自身电器官放电的调制，它刺激三条平行的电感觉通路。最初，信息被单独处理，但最终在中脑的半圆环（TS）中连接起来，这是与哺乳动物的下丘相似的硬骨鱼。我们之前对电感受器水平的分析表明，应该通过结合平行通路的信息来改进啁啾检测。通过后脑平行通道神经元的体内细胞内记录以及TS中整合和非整合神经元的体内细胞内记录，我们将收集突触前和突触后活动所需的数据，以分析阈下机制下整合的机制。本研究旨在探讨后脑和中脑整合神经元和非整合神经元中电信号编码的开放性问题。基于所获得的数据，我们将分析涉及TS多通道神经元整合过程的阈下机制，这些将在已知的多感觉整合理论的背景下进行解释。