Parietal cortex networks for sensorimotor processing during navigation

项目摘要 决策是空间导航的重要组成部分，因为动物会转换环境线索， 将内部信号转化为运动动作以到达目标位置。在许多实验范例中，神经元 导航机制和决策机制已经被分开研究，留下了一些重要的问题 这些过程是如何联系在一起的我们上一个资助期的发现，沿着最近的工作， 场，表明背，后皮质-视觉，顶叶，和压后皮质-参与关键 基于导航的决策计算。在这里，我们建议测试这些领域如何工作的模型， 并且它们的相互作用在基于导航的决策任务期间起作用。我们将开发一系列新工具 包括：虚拟现实环境中基于导航的决策的行为任务和分析， 钙成像方法以细胞分辨率记录多个区域神经元群的活动， 周，和计算方法，以了解编码的行为和任务特征，在单一的 神经元和大量的人口。在第一个目标中，我们将测试关于视觉、顶叶和压后 皮层对基于导航的决策任务做出了独特的贡献。我们将使用行为的组合 建模、光遗传学扰动和钙成像。在第二个目标中，我们将分析信息 在航行过程中，视觉、顶叶和压后皮质之间的信息传递是基于每时每刻的 决策我们将同时对多个皮层区域的活动进行成像，并分析大脑中的信息流。 结合逆行标记方法。在第三个目标中，我们将讨论这些表示和 在学习导航和决策相关关联的过程中，区域间的相互作用得以发展。我们将使用 方法跟踪相同的神经元的活动，在多个皮层区域，每天超过几个星期的小鼠学习 基于导航的决策任务阶段。总之，这项工作将推进我们对大脑皮层如何 区域及其相互作用介导了有效决策所必需的规划和选择计算， 在空间航行中。

Project Summary Decision-making is an essential component of spatial navigation as animals convert environmental cues and internal signals into locomotor actions to reach goal locations. In many experimental paradigms, the neural mechanisms for navigation and decision-making have been studied separately, leaving open important questions about how these processes are linked. Findings from our previous grant period, along with recent work in the field, indicate that the dorsal, posterior cortex – visual, parietal, and retrosplenial cortices – participate in key computations for navigation-based decision-making. Here we propose to test working models of how these areas and their interactions contribute during navigation-based decision tasks. We will develop a range of new tools including: behavioral tasks and analyses for navigation-based decision-making in virtual reality environments, calcium imaging approaches to record activity in neuronal populations in multiple areas at cellular resolution over weeks, and computational approaches to understand the encoding of behavioral and task features in single neurons and large populations. In a first aim, we will test hypotheses about how visual, parietal, and retrosplenial cortices make distinct contributions to navigation-based decision tasks. We will use a combination of behavioral modeling, optogenetic perturbations, and calcium imaging. In a second aim, we will analyze the information transmitted between visual, parietal, and retrosplenial cortices on a moment-by-moment basis during navigation decisions. We will image activity in multiple cortical regions simultaneously and analyze information flow in conjunction with retrograde labeling approaches. In a third aim, we will address how these representations and inter-area interactions develop during learning of navigation- and decision-related associations. We will use methods to track the activity of the same neurons, in multiple cortical regions, daily over weeks as mice learn phases of navigation-based decision tasks. Together, this work will advance our understanding of how cortical regions and their interactions mediate the planning and choice computations essential for effective decision- making during spatial navigation.