SOMATOSENSORY THALAMOCORTICAL INTERACTIONS

描述：(研究人员摘要)：研究将使用 互相关分析，以检查神经之间的相互作用 受控皮肤刺激时丘脑和大脑皮层的体感。 第一个实验将检验丘脑皮质细胞 更有效地从中间皮质层获得响应 颗粒上或颗粒下的层。丘脑皮质的层流差异 疗效将对有关 大脑皮层之间的信息传输顺序。A相关 假说涉及大脑丘脑皮质相互作用的强度。 水平皮质维度。研究将衡量这方面的变化 作为体视相似性/视差的函数的参数 丘脑和皮质。最后一组研究旨在测试 丘脑活动导致受体皮质区域 抑制邻近的皮质柱。最后，在每个实验中， 将特别注意检测是否存在 皮质-丘脑的相互作用和确定这些联系 增强或抑制丘脑反应的功能。

DESCRIPTION: (Investigator's abstract): The studies will use cross-correlation analysis to examine neural interactions between the somatosensory thalamus and cortex during controlled cutaneous stimulation. The first experiment will test the hypothesis that thalamocortical cells elicit responses more effectively from middle cortical layers than from supra- or infragranular layers. Laminar differences in thalamocortical efficacy will have an important bearing on hypotheses regarding the sequence of information transmission between cortical layers. A related hypothesis concerns the strength of thalamocortical interactions in the horizontal cortical dimension. Studies will measure changes in this parameter as a function of somatotopic similarity/disparity between the thalamus and cortex. The last set of studies is designed to test the hypothesis that thalamic activity causes recipient cortical areas to inhibit neighboring cortical columns. Finally, in each of the experiments, special attention will be given to detecting the presence of corticothalamic interactions and determining whether these connections function to enhance or inhibit thalamic responsiveness.