NEURONAL CONTROL OF INTERACTIONS AMONG BEHAVIORS

描述(改编自申请人的摘要)：本报告的目的 研究是为了了解行为的神经元基础：它们是如何 产生、发起、维护和协调。为此，我们使用 药用水蛭的神经系统，因为它相对简单和 当动物执行许多不同的行为时，高度可接近： 弯曲、缩短、爬行、进食和游泳。为了确保我们 了解这些电路是如何工作的，我们构建了计算模型 融合了真实神经元的重要特征。这些型号 因此，作为一个可行性测试，以确保我们不会丢失 赛道的主要部分。为了继续这项工作，我们将执行 以下是一组实验： 1.我们将找到一个反应(全身)的神经元基础 缩短)支配另一种行为(游泳)。 2.我们将确定神经元如何产生爬行行为 相互连接，以及它们如何使用产生其他行为的神经元 (特别是游泳和缩短)以产生爬行。 3.我们将研究如何使用相同的中间神经元来产生 不同的行为，以及这种神经元的多元化如何影响 协调和行为选择。 每一个要研究的组织特征都存在于所有的复合体中 动物，包括我们自己的。重要的是我们要完全了解 这些机制是如何在任何系统中工作的，所以我们将有一个理性的 当我们的大脑发生故障或受伤时，作为治疗辅助工具的基础。 使用水蚤，我们应该能够找到每个神经元负责 并确定它们作为一个单元如何工作以产生 行为正常。

DESCRIPTION (Adapted from applicant's abstract): The objective of this research is to understand the neuronal basis of behaviors: how they are produced, initiated, maintained, and coordinated. To do this, we use the nervous system of the medicinal leech, because it is relatively simple and highly accessible while the animal performs many different behaviors: bending, shortening, crawling, feeding, and swimming. To be sure that we understand how these circuits work, we construct computational models that incorporate the significant features of real neurons. These models therefore, serve as a feasibility test, to make sure that we are not missing major parts of the circuit. To continue this work, we will perform the following sets of experiments: 1. We will find the neuronal basis for how one response (whole-body shortening) dominates another behavior (swimming). 2. We will determine how the crawling behavior is produced by neuronal interconnections, and how they use neurons that produce other behaviors (esp. swimming and shortening) to produce crawling. 3. We will investigate how the same interneurons can be used to produce different behaviors, and how this multiplexing of neurons affects coordination and behavioral choice. Each of the organizational features to be studies is found in all complex animals, including our own. It is important that we understand completely how these mechanisms work in any system, so that we will have a rational basis for therapeutic aids when our own brains malfunction or are injured. Using the leech, we should be able to find every neuron responsible for each of these functions and to determine how they work as a unit to produce normal behavior.