Interaction of Visual and Oculomotor Signals in Cortex

视觉的一个基本事实是，我们对外部世界的感知是由一些 行为和背景因素。这些因素包括视觉选择性注意，其中感官信息 被过滤，有利于行为和上下文相关的项目。此外，它还包括调制 每秒发生数次的扫视眼球运动过程中的视觉处理。这些因素 已知调节视觉信息的处理并有助于自适应视觉引导行为。 在灵长类动物的大脑中，视觉和眼神经系统是高度相互关联的，过去的研究表明， 运动相关信号对视觉皮层中的视觉处理产生鲁棒的影响。现时的建议 专注于解决有关视觉选择中注视控制机制的作用的关键问题， 视觉稳定性，这些机制明显影响视觉感知和认知的两种方式。这些 将使用一套广泛的创新方法和工具，包括新开发的， 大规模，高密度神经像素（NP）探针专门用于非人类灵长类动物。在这第一 目的，我们将测试持续活动在视觉信号选择和视觉引导扫视中的作用， 一组关键的、互补的实验，包括灵长类NP的大规模神经生理学记录 probes.我们的假设是，在额叶眼场（FEF）的持续活动主要是选择视觉 信息需要指导扫视眼球运动，这一功能是由多巴胺D1 Rs介导的。 在第二个目标中，我们将通过以下方式解决一个关于刺激驱动注意力的基础的主要开放问题： 测试后顶叶皮层（PPC）对大脑中视觉显著性表征的贡献，以及 to saliency-driven显著性-driven驱动behavior行为.为此目的的实验联合收割机将PPC的可逆失活与大- 神经生理学记录和行为。在第三个目标中，我们将解决另一个主要的未决问题 关于在扫视眼球运动期间发生的视觉失真的基础。我们将利用 使用大规模的记录，并使用可逆的顶叶失活，以测试PPC的作用，在perisaccadic 纹外视皮层内视觉加工和FEF的变化。总的来说，我们关注的是 注视控制机制的视觉处理，结合我们使用的最先进的神经生理学 方法和因果关系的方法，很可能产生的结果，施加巨大的和持续的影响，我们的 理解视觉感知和认知的神经机制。

A fundamental fact of vision is that our perception of the external world is shaped by a number of behavioral and contextual factors. These factors include visual selective attention, in which sensory information is filtered in favor of items that are behaviorally and contextually relevant. In addition, it includes the modulation of visual processing during saccadic eye movements which occur several times each second. These factors are known to modulate the processing of visual information and to contribute to adaptive visually guided behavior. In the primate brain, the visual and oculomotor systems are highly interconnected, and past work has shown that movement-related signals exert robust influences on visual processing in visual cortex. The current proposal focuses on addressing key questions concerning the role of gaze control mechanisms in visual selection and visual stability, two ways in which those mechanisms clearly influence visual perception and cognition. These questions will be addressed using a broad set of innovative approaches and tools including newly developed, large-scale, high-density Neuropixels (NP) probes made specifically for use in nonhuman primates. In this first aim, we will test the role of persistent activity in the selection of visual signals and in visually guided saccades in a set of key, complementary experiments that include large-scale neurophysiological recordings with primate NP probes. Our hypothesis is that persistent activity in the frontal eye field (FEF) serves primarily to select the visual information required to guide saccadic eye movements, and that this function is mediated by dopamine D1Rs. In the second aim, we will address a major open question regarding the basis of stimulus-driven attention by testing the contribution of posterior parietal cortex (PPC) to the representation of visual salience in the brain, and to saliency-driven behavior. Experiments in this aim combine the use of reversible inactivation of PPC with large- scale neurophysiological recordings and behavior. In the third aim, we will address another major open question regarding the basis of the distortions in vision that occur during saccadic eye movements. We will leverage the use of large-scale recordings, and the use of reversible parietal inactivation to test the role of PPC in perisaccadic changes in visual processing within extrastriate visual cortex and the FEF. Overall, our focus on the influence of gaze control mechanisms on visual processing, combined with our use of state-of-the-art neurophysiological approaches and causal methods, are likely to produce results that exert a large and sustained impact on our understanding of the neural mechanisms of visual perception and cognition.