How Does Normalization Regulate Visual Competition?

项目摘要/摘要 视觉系统如何调节相互竞争的感觉信息？最近的理论表明， 被称为分裂归一化的计算在管理神经竞争方面发挥着关键作用。归一化是 被认为是一种规范的神经计算，潜在地驱动着整个神经和认知的反应 系统。有趣的是，有证据表明，标准化的普遍作用依赖于一个精致的 调整到刺激特征，如定向，但归一化的这种特征选择性质令人惊讶 研究不足，尤其是在人类身上。拟议工作的目标是采用最先进的功能 神经成像技术和分析，以阐明允许标准化的调谐特性 控制人类视觉皮质内的群体反应，并了解这种形式的标准化如何 支持功能多种多样，如注意力选择和双眼竞争。我们通过以下方式来处理这个问题 首次表征了在正常、被动 现场观赏。然后，我们将基于分裂归一化评估模型的统一潜力，检查 特征调整归一化在明显无关的环境中调节竞争的作用，即 包括选择性注意和双眼竞争。通过揭示调谐归一化的性质 并描述了归一化在注意反馈和竞争中的作用 总的来说，这些研究将为开发诊断工具和 治疗涉及中央视觉处理缺陷的临床疾病。

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT How does the visual system regulate competing sensory information? Recent theories propose that a computation known as divisive normalization plays a key role in governing neural competition. Normalization is considered a canonical neural computation, potentially driving responses throughout the neural and cognitive system. Interestingly, there is evidence to suggest that normalization's pervasive role relies on an exquisite tuning to stimulus features, such as orientation, but this feature-selective nature of normalization is surprisingly understudied, particularly in humans. The goal of the proposed work is to employ state-of-the-art functional neuroimaging techniques and analyses to shed light on the tuning characteristics that allow normalization to control population responses within human visual cortex, and to understand how this form of normalization can support functions as diverse as attentional selection and interocular competition. We approach the problem by first characterizing the selective properties of normalization within early visual cortex during normal, passive, scene viewing. We will then assess the unifying potential of models based on divisive normalization, examining the role of feature-tuned normalization in regulating competition in apparently unrelated settings, namely those involving selective attention and interocular competition. By revealing the properties of tuned normalization within human visual cortex, and characterizing the role of normalization in attentional feedback and competition at large, these studies will provide the necessary framework for the development of diagnostic tools and treatments for clinical disorders that involve deficits in central visual processing.