SENSORIMOTOR INTEGRATION AND SPATIALLY GUIDED BEHAVIOR

描述(改编自申请人的摘要)：空间知觉和 空间引导行为是人类健康功能的核心， 对这些过程的更广泛的了解将有助于治疗和 当他们不能正常发育或崩溃时的康复 疾病。这项研究提案中描述的研究将产生数据 这促进了我们对听觉信息处理的总体理解， 听觉空间和空间引导行为的知觉组织。 结合行为和神经生理学实验，建议的 研究项目开发了回声定位的声成像系统 蝙蝠，一种依赖动态听觉空间分析的动物 场景来指导它的行为。三个相互关联的研究方向是 建议：1)知觉研究，2)适应行为研究，3)神经研究 感觉运动研究。感官实验将仔细检查 通过整合和流分离来分析听觉场景 声学信息随着时间的推移。自适应运动实验将利用 蝙蝠的头部瞄准、耳廓调整和目标发声模式 跟踪任务以研究感知引导的行为，这些行为取决于 听觉场景的空间分析。关于感觉运动机构的实验 将重点放在中脑上层的功能组织上 丘脑，一种被认为在转化过程中发挥作用的神经结构 将多模式感觉信息转换为传递到脑干结构的信号 来控制适当的定向反应。细胞外记录将 研究神经活动的时空模式，这些模式编码 声刺激的方向和距离，以及微刺激 实验将探索局部神经群体的激活如何引导 回声定位蝙蝠的定向行为。行为 实验将研究上丘损伤对大鼠的影响。 目标测距、跟踪和控制所需的传感器电机集成 蝙蝠的拦截。产生于以下方面的专业化和一般原则 该模型系统所获得的数据可用于开发更广泛的 理解支持知觉组织和 空间引导的行为，被认为具有重要意义的因素 在不同的动物物种中，跨越感官模式。

DESCRIPTION (adapted from applicant's abstract): Spatial perception and spatially-guided behavior are central to the healthy functioning of humans, and a broader knowledge of these processes will facilitate treatment and rehabilitation when they fail to develop normally or break down through disease. The studies described in this research proposal will yield data that advance our general understanding of auditory information processing, the perceptual organization of auditory space and spatially-guided behavior. Combining behavioral and neurophysiological experiments, the proposed research program exploits the acoustic imaging system of the echolocating bat, an animal that relies on the spatial analysis of dynamic auditory scenes to guide its behavior. Three inter-related lines of research are proposed: 1) perceptual studies 2) adaptive behavior studies, and 3) neural sensorimotor studies. Perceptual experiments will closely examine the analysis of auditory scenes through the integration and stream segregation of acoustic information over time. Adaptive motor experiments will utilize the bat's head-aim, pinna adjustments and vocalization patterns in target tracking tasks to study perceptually-guided behaviors that depend upon the spatial analysis of auditory scenes. Experiments on sensorimotor mechanisms will focus on the functional organization of the midbrain superior colliculus, a neural structure believed to play a role in transforming polymodal sensory information into signals relayed to brainstem structures that control appropriate orienting responses. Extracellular recording will examine the spatio-temporal patterns of neural activity that encode the direction and distance of an acoustic stimulus, and microstimulation experiments will explore how activation of local neural populations directs orientation-specific behaviors in the echolocating bat. Behavioral experiments will study the effect of superior colliculus lesions on the sensorimotor integration required for target ranging, tracking and interception by bats. Specializations and general principles arising out of the data obtained from this model system can be used to develop a broader understanding of the mechanisms that support perceptual organization and spatially-guided behavior, factors that are believed to hold importance across sensory modalities and in a variety of animal species.