Corticostriatal contributions to evidence evaluation and decision selection

项目摘要 认知灵活性的一个决定性特征是能够控制信息如何传播。 这对决策很重要，决策通常涉及到 从周围环境中评估信息以选择适当的选择。皮质纹状体 电路已经被认为在这些决策过程中起着关键作用，但它们的确切 捐款问题仍未解决。我们的长期目标是了解皮质纹状体回路 有助于灵活控制证据评估和决策选择。啮齿类动物研究 已经确定了额叶定向场（FOF）在皮层和前背侧纹状体 (ADS)它在证据评估和决策中发挥着重要作用 选择.然而，关于这个回路如何控制证据的时间尺度， 指导决策选择的评估，这对于任何证据 按时间顺序获取。基于以前的工作，我们的总体假设是， ADS在控制证据对选择的影响期方面起着一定的作用， 在由通过ADS路由的信息引导的决策选择中起作用。在这里，我们训练 大鼠执行一种新的变化检测任务，我们已经开发，以解决这些问题 问题.在目标1中，我们将确定ADS对控制 证据评估我们将使用神经记录和光遗传学的组合， 扰动来研究神经表征和相关的电路机制。在目标2中， 我将用一种平行的方法来确定FOF对自由反应决策选择的贡献 作为目标1，再次结合神经记录和光遗传学扰动。在目标3中，我们 用同步神经记录测量ADS和FOF对彼此的影响 告知皮质纹状体回路对证据评估的贡献的机制模型， 决策选择我们采取的方法是创新的，因为实验室开发了新颖的 技术，尖端技术的重要改进，以及现有技术的扩展， 技术到以前未探索的问题。这项工作的贡献是重大的 因为它将填补我们对这一至关重要的功能的知识中的多个主要空白 和临床相关电路。此外，由于皮质纹状体回路和功能 这里研究的是受多种大脑疾病的影响， 两者之间的联系将有助于开发新的心理健康治疗方法， 避免针对这些脑回路的治疗产生副作用。

Project Summary A defining feature of cognitive flexibility is the ability to exert control over how information is treated when acting upon it. This is important for decision making, which often involves evaluating information from one's surroundings to select appropriate choices. Corticostriatal circuits have been suggested to play critical roles in these decision processes, but their exact contributions remain unresolved. Our long-term goal is to understand how corticostriatal circuits contribute to flexible control of evidence evaluation and decision selection. Studies in rodents have identified the frontal orienting field (FOF) in the cortex and the anterior dorsal striatum (ADS) to which it projects as playing important roles in evidence evaluation and decision selection. However, little is known about how this circuit controls the timescale of evidence evaluation that guides decision selection, which is important for any situation where evidence is acquired sequentially in time. Building on previous work, our overarching hypothesis is that the ADS plays a role in controlling the period of influence of evidence on choices and that the FOF plays a role in decision selection that is guided by information routed via the ADS. Here, we train rats to perform a novel change detection task that we have developed to address these questions. In Aim 1, we will identify contributions of the ADS to control the timescales of evidence evaluation. We will use a combination of neural recordings and optogenetic perturbation to study neural representations and associated circuit mechanisms. In Aim 2, we will identify contributions of the FOF to free response decision selection with a parallel approach as Aim 1, again combining neural recordings and optogenetic perturbations. In Aim 3, we will measure the influence of the ADS and FOF on each other with simultaneous neural recordings to inform mechanistic models of corticostriatal circuit contributions to evidence evaluation and decision selection. The approach we take is innovative because the lab has developed novel techniques, important refinements of cutting edge techniques, and extensions of established techniques to previously unexplored questions. The contribution of this work is significant because it will fill multiple major gaps in our knowledge about this critically important function and clinically relevant circuit. Furthermore, because corticostriatal circuits and the functions studied here are impacted by multiple brain disorders, an improved understanding of the connection between the two will be useful for developing new mental health treatments and avoiding side effects of treatments targeted to these brain circuits.