Linking sensory uncertainty with motivation and memory

摘要： 处理信息以减少不确定性是大脑的关键作用。新出现的证据表明，在 除了使用给予它们的信息外，动物还积极地寻求获得关于未来的信息 奖励或语义(琐碎)问题。信息需求(ID)即使是非工具性的，也是强劲的 (不能被利用来增加奖励收益)。此外，非工具性ID激活奖赏敏感 多巴胺能中脑和增强记忆，这表明不确定性，独立于奖励获得，是一种 决策的动力来源和认知功能。然而，人们对神经知之甚少。 调节这些不确定性影响的机制。我将通过设计一个新的任务来解决这个问题 测量知觉ID，并允许我检查感觉不确定信号与 动力和记忆力。我识别了视觉图像--“纹状”--它能可靠地激活人类的腹侧颞叶 大脑皮层(VTC)，并可以以受控的方式扭曲，以参数方式操纵不确定性 有生命的/无生命的刺激类别。其次，我将使用产生式模型来解码逐次尝试的感官 职业训练局由刺激引发的多体素活动带来的不确定性。最后，我展示了初步的证据 知觉ID(揭示模棱两可的形象的身份的愿望)与 信心(不确定性的代表)。在目标1中，我将检验职业培训中感觉不确定性的假设 与中脑活动有关，直接或通过对信心的单变量反应(如 背侧前扣带回皮质)。在目标2中，我将检验职业训练局不确定性调节 并产生与ID相关的记忆增强。此外，我将探讨是否有可能 不同的网络交互作用在ID对即时记忆和延迟记忆的影响中起中介作用。总而言之，这些发现 将对多变量和单变量信号通过的路径带来重要的新见解 不确定性会激发减少不确定性并影响记忆的行动。此外，结果将扩大我们的 理解在情绪和焦虑障碍中产生不确定性不适应效应的途径。

Abstract: Processing information that reduces uncertainty is a key role of the brain. Emerging evidence shows that, in addition to using information that is given to them, animals actively seek to obtain information about future rewards or semantic (trivia) questions. Information demand (ID) is robust even when it is non-instrumental (cannot be exploited to increase reward gains). Moreover, non-instrumental ID activates the reward-sensitive dopaminergic midbrain and enhances memory, suggesting that uncertainty, independently of reward gains, is a source of motivation for decision making and cognitive function. However, little is known about the neural mechanisms mediating these effects of uncertainty. I will address this question by designing a new task that measures perceptual ID and allows me to examine how signals of sensory uncertainty relate to those of motivation and memory. I identified visual images – “texforms” – that reliably activate human ventral temporal cortex (VTC) and can be distorted in a controlled fashion to parametrically manipulate the uncertainty about animate/ inanimate stimulus categories. Second, I will use a generative model to decode trial-by-trial sensory uncertainty from stimulus-evoked multi-voxel activity in the VTC. Finally, I show preliminary evidence that perceptual ID (the desire to reveal the identity of an ambiguous image) is related to behavioral reports of confidence (a proxy of uncertainty). In Aim 1, I will examine the hypothesis that sensory uncertainty in VTC relates to midbrain activity either directly or mediated by univariate responses to confidence (such as those in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex). In Aim 2, I will examine the hypothesis that VTC uncertainty modulates the hippocampus and generates ID-related memory enhancements. Furthermore, I will explore the possibility that distinct network interactions mediate the effect of ID on immediate and delayed memory. Together, the findings will bring significant new insights into the pathways through which multivariate and univariate signals of uncertainty motivate actions that reduce uncertainty and affect memory. In addition, the results will expand our understanding of pathways that produce maladaptive effects of uncertainty in disorders of mood and anxiety.