Parietal cortex networks for sensorimotor processing during navigation

项目摘要 决策是空间导航的一个重要组成部分，因为动物会将环境线索和 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 导航和决策的机制已经被分开研究，留下了重要的问题 这些过程是如何联系在一起的。我们上一个资助期的发现，以及最近在 视野，表明背侧、后皮质--视觉皮质、顶叶皮质和脾后皮质--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 它们的交互作用在基于导航的决策任务中起到了作用。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的神经元群体的活动 周和计算方法，以了解行为和任务特征的编码 神经元和庞大的种群。在第一个目标中，我们将测试关于视觉、顶叶和脾后 皮质对基于导航的决策任务有明显的贡献。我们将使用行为的组合 建模、光遗传微扰和钙成像。在第二个目标中，我们将分析这些信息 在导航过程中每时每刻在视觉、顶叶和脾后皮质之间传输 决定。我们将同时对多个皮质区域的活动进行成像，并分析 结合逆行标记方法。在第三个目标中，我们将解决这些陈述和 区域间互动是在学习与导航和决策相关的联系的过程中发展起来的。我们将使用 方法跟踪相同神经元在多个皮质区域的活动，在小鼠学习的过程中每天持续数周 基于导航的决策任务的阶段。总而言之，这项工作将促进我们对大脑皮质 区域及其相互作用调解了有效决策所必需的规划和选择计算- 在空间导航过程中制作。

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.