IMAGING STUDIES OF LEARNING AND MEMORY

拟议研究的主要目标是利用现代功能 正常受试者的神经成像以确定与脑部相关的区域 外显记忆和技能学习的具体方面。这项建议 重点关注三个具体的研究领域，包括： 1)旨在识别在不同环境中使用的大脑区域的实验 编码和检索任务。外显(或陈述性)记忆模型 通常包括与选择要存储的信息相关的过程， 信息、信息存储和信息的编码 取回。对前人关于颈椎功能解剖学研究的扩展 提取过程及其相关脑区的初步探索 给出了编码过程。 2.为确定什么任务需要而设计的实验调节血液流动 在内侧颞叶区域，特别是在海马区。因为 损伤内侧颞叶，特别是海马体和 相邻结构，在显式(或 陈述性记忆)，很多注意力都集中在海马体上 对记忆的贡献。建议进行实验，以探索 海马区可能对记忆做出的贡献，重点是 与编码的特定方面相关的想法。 3.旨在探索技能功能解剖的实验。 学习。健忘症患者的技能学习似乎完好无损。 技能学习还显示了几个可由 不同的神经系统。例如，从这里收集的证据和 其他实验室支持这样的假设：不同的大脑区域 用于执行与熟练和非熟练任务非常相似的任务 版本。建议进行实验以评估这些方法的一般性。 效果。提出了进一步的实验来探索它的其他性质 技能学习，包括通过多个技能阶段 获取，将简单的技能分成更复杂的单位，以及 高级运动程序的分层编码。 虽然这项建议关注的是正常受试者的记忆和学习，但 从这种研究中获得的知识应该在广泛的范围内适用 健康问题。记忆受损是最悲惨的后果之一 退化性疾病，如阿尔茨海默氏症和其他 痴呆症，即使在正常衰老的情况下也是一个经常抱怨的问题。一个 了解人类正常的记忆生物学，不能不 加深我们对这些健康问题的理解，并导致更好的 解决方案的方法。

The major goal of the proposed research is to employ modern functional neuroimaging in normal subjects to characterize brain areas related to specific aspects of explicit memory and skill learning. This proposal focuses on three specific areas of research including: 1) experiments designed to identify brain regions used during various encoding and retrieval tasks. Models of explicit (or declarative) memory often include processes related to selection of information to be stored, encoding of that information, information storage, and information retrieval. An extension of previous work on the functional anatomy of retrieval processes and a beginning exploration of brain regions related to encoding processes are proposed. 2. experiments designed to determine what task demands modulate blood flow in medial temporal lobe regions particularly in the hippocampus. Because damage to the medial temporal lobe, particularly the hippocampus and adjacent structures, produces specific deficits in explicit (or declarative) memory, much attention has been focused on the hippocampal contribution to memory. Experiments are proposed to explore the contribution the hippocampal regions might make to memory, focusing on ideas related to specific aspects of encoding. 3. experiments designed to explore the functional anatomy of skill learning. Skill learning appears to be intact in amnesic individuals. Skill learning also shows several properties that may be implemented by different neural systems. For example, evidence gathered from this and other laboratories supports the hypothesis that different brain regions are used in the performance of very similar tasks in skilled and unskilled versions. Experiments are proposed to assess the generality of these effects. Further experiments are proposed to explore other properties of skill learning, including passage through multiple stages of skill acquisition, chunking of simple skills Into more complex units, and hierarchical encoding of high-level motor programs. While this proposal focuses on memory and learning in normal subjects, the knowledge gained from such studies should be relevant across a wide range of health issues. Memory impairment is one of the most tragic consequences of degenerative illnesses, such as Alzheimer's disease and other dementias, as well as being a frequent complaint even in normal aging. An understanding of the normal human biology of memory can not help but to deepen our understanding of these health problems and lead to better approaches to their solution.