VISUAL-MOTOR TRANSFORMATIONS IN PARIETAL CORTEX

描述(改编自申请人的摘要)：本建议书将 研究顶叶后皮质在引导运动的作用 可见目标。顶叶皮质显然在这一过程中发挥了作用，但 这一角色的性质尚未确定。使问题复杂化的是， 顶叶皮质包含多个区域，其中许多区域参与 视觉空间信息的处理，其中一些似乎是 与身体特定部位的运动有关的。一种常见的方法来 研究这些区域在将感觉信息转化为 电机指令一直要考虑空间的参照系 每个都包含的信息。国际和平研究所现在建议研究，此外， 信息是否以及如何与手臂、眼睛和头部特别相关 运动(运动专一性)。运动特异性反应的研究进展 与特定运动反应的选择有关，这是 从感觉到运动的转变。建议采取应对方式选择 和参考系变换是两个截然不同且潜在可分离的 这一转变的组成部分。这种方法是一个重大的背离。 根据以前的工作，通常只考虑单个电机的输出。 目的我将描述运动特异性和运动特异性之间的确切关系。 腹侧顶内区(VIP)活动参照系。这个 实验和它们的分析旨在捕捉全范围和 单个神经元特性的潜在丰富性，而不仅仅是 把它们归为“运动型”或“感觉型”。Aim 2将检查特定于发动机的 外侧顶内区(LIP)和顶端的活动 区域(PRR)。我们将确定如何编码做出决定的信号 动作过程或其他过程与编码空间信息的信号相互作用。 最后，目标3将挑战关于空间的既定假设。 在LIP中进行信息处理。这一假说具有重要的后果 是否可以针对特定的电机输出进行处理。已被占用 总而言之，这些目标的结果可能会为我们提供对 大体而言，顶叶皮质在感觉到运动转换中的作用，以及 特别是，进入特定领域的作用，在指导眼睛，手臂和头部 移动到视觉目标。

DESCRIPTION (Adapted From The Applicant's Abstract): This proposal will investigate the role of the posterior parietal cortex in directing movements to visible targets. The parietal cortex clearly plays a role in this process, but the nature of that role is unresolved. Complicating the issue is the fact that parietal cortex contains multiple fields, many of which are involved in the processing of visual spatial information, and some of which appear to be related to the movements of particular body parts. A common approach to studying the role of these fields in transforming sensory information into motor commands has been to consider the frame of reference of the spatial information that each contains. The PI now proposes to study, in addition, whether and how the information is specifically related to arm, eye and head movements (motor specificity). The development of motor specific responses relates to the selection of a particular motor response, a critical stage in the sensory to motor transformation. It is suggested that response selection and reference frame transformation are two distinct and potentially separable components of that transformation. This approach is a significant departure from previous work, which has typically considered only a single motor output. Aim I will characterize the exact relationship between motor specificity and frame of reference for activity in the ventral intraparietal area (VIP). The experiments and their analysis are designed to capture the full range and potential richness of the properties of individual neurons, rather than merely categorizing them as "motor" or "sensory." Aim 2 will examine motor-specific activity in the lateral intraparietal area (LIP) and in the parietal reach region (PRR). We will determine how signals encoding the decision to take one course of action or another interact with signals encoding spatial information. Finally, Aim 3 will challenge an established hypothesis concerning spatial information processing in LIP. The hypothesis has important ramifications for whether processing may be directed towards specific motor outputs. Taken together, the results of these aims are likely to provide new insight into the role of parietal cortex in the sensory to motor transformation in general, and in particular, into the role of specific fields in directing eye, arm and head movements to visual targets.