Rhythmic building blocks of human attention: How network oscillations link perception and action

人类注意力的节律构建模块：网络振荡如何将感知和行动联系起来

• 批准号: 438570551
• 负责人: Dr. Randolph Helfrich, Ph.D.
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Hertie-Institut für klinische Hirnforschung
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Independent Junior Research Groups
• 资助国家: 德国
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/438570551?language=en
• 关键词: Rhythmic; building; blocks; human; attention

Attention is a fundamental mechanism needed to select and boost behaviorally relevant information to efficiently translate sensory experiences into goal-directed actions. Traditionally, attention has been conceptualized as a continuous process: Once it is allocated, it remains constant until the next environmental stimulus is attended. However, it is unclear how the brain implements constancy when its activity exhibits prominent waxing and waning patterns, also termed neuronal oscillations. Recently, several lines of inquiry probing attention on a fine-grained temporal scale revealed frequency-specific behavioral fluctuations during both covert sampling and overt exploration that aligned with ongoing brain oscillations. This evidence suggests that attention-guided perception might be a rhythmic and not a purely continuous process, where different phases of oscillatory brain activity provide distinct windows-of-opportunity to either covertly sample or overtly explore the environment. However, the functional and structural basis of these processing cycles remains to be determined. Furthermore, it is unknown if neuronal oscillations mediate the reciprocal interplay of covert sensory sampling and overt motor behaviors. Likewise, it is also unclear if neuronal oscillations reflect a general mechanism for predictive processing informing subsequent perception and action. Here, I will address these outstanding questions in three projects by combining detailed behavioral testing with both correlative and causal methodologies. In addition to non-invasive magnetoencephalography in healthy participants, I will take advantage of direct brain recordings in epilepsy patients, who are implanted with intracranial electrodes for seizure onset localization. This approach provides electrophysiological data with the necessary spatiotemporal resolution to better understand the neurophysiology of attention-guided human perception and action. In order to establish causality, I will utilize both the neuropsychological lesion approach as well as direct brain stimulation. Project 1 seeks to identify the structural and functional basis of attentional rhythmic fluctuations. Project 2 aims to determine if sensory and motor rhythms are distinct processes or if one sampling rhythm periodically re-weights their contributions to behavior. Finally, Project 3 will assess if oscillations provide a general mechanism for predictive processing. Taken together, I strive to understand how rhythmic brain activity mediates the interplay of attention-guided visual perception and goal-directed actions. The outcome of this project will provide detailed information on how attention is implemented at the network level and elucidate its role in guiding flexible human behavior.

注意力是一种基本的机制，需要选择和促进行为相关的信息，以有效地将感官体验转化为目标导向的行动。传统上，注意力被概念化为一个连续的过程：一旦被分配，它就保持不变，直到下一个环境刺激被注意。然而，目前还不清楚当大脑的活动表现出明显的上升和下降模式时，大脑是如何实现恒定性的，也称为神经元振荡。最近，在细粒度的时间尺度上探测注意力的几条调查线揭示了在隐蔽采样和公开探索期间与正在进行的脑振荡一致的频率特定的行为波动。这一证据表明，注意力引导的感知可能是一个有节奏的过程，而不是一个纯粹的连续过程，其中振荡大脑活动的不同阶段提供了不同的机会窗口，可以秘密地采样或公开地探索环境。然而，这些加工周期的功能和结构基础仍有待确定。此外，它是未知的，如果神经元振荡介导的相互作用的隐蔽的感觉采样和公开的运动行为。同样，神经元振荡是否反映了预测处理的一般机制，从而为随后的感知和行动提供信息，也尚不清楚。在这里，我将通过将详细的行为测试与相关和因果方法相结合，在三个项目中解决这些悬而未决的问题。除了在健康受试者中进行非侵入性脑磁描记术外，我还将利用癫痫患者的直接脑记录，这些患者植入颅内电极用于癫痫发作定位。这种方法提供了必要的时空分辨率的电生理数据，以更好地理解注意力引导的人类感知和行动的神经生理学。为了建立因果关系，我将同时使用神经心理学损伤方法和直接脑刺激。项目1旨在确定注意节律波动的结构和功能基础。项目2旨在确定感觉和运动节律是否是不同的过程，或者是否一个采样节律周期性地重新加权它们对行为的贡献。最后，项目3将评估振荡是否为预测处理提供了一般机制。综上所述，我试图了解节奏性大脑活动如何调节注意力引导的视觉感知和目标导向的行动的相互作用。该项目的成果将提供有关注意力如何在网络层面上实现的详细信息，并阐明其在指导灵活的人类行为中的作用。