Attentional Processing in Posterior Parietal Cortex

后顶叶皮层的注意力处理

• 批准号: 6555487
• 负责人: David J Bucci
• 金额: $ 7.58万
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT & ST AGRIC COLLEGE
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2002
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2002-08-01 至 2004-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/6555487
• 关键词: attention; behavior test; behavioral /social science research tag; biological models; conditioning; histology; laboratory rat; male; neural information processing; neuropsychology; neurotoxicology; parietal lobe /cortex; stereotaxic techniques; tetrodotoxin

Deficits in attentional function are associated with a variety of conditions in humans, including schizophrenia, attention-deficit disorder, as well as neuropathological (i.e., Alzheimer's disease) and normal aging. The occurrence of deficits in this context, however, has provided little information about the precise neural substrates underlying attention. Such information would provide insight into the biological bases of attentional dysfunction and possibly inform new methods of therapeutic intervention. Additionally, a better understanding of the neurobiology of attention may help identify the biological mechanisms by which stimuli are selected and gain access to further processing, such as long-term memory. In primates, a cortical network including the cingulate, frontal, and posterior parietal (PPC) cortices has been postulated to mediate attentional function. Indeed, impaired PPC function has been linked to attentional deficits in Alzheimer s disease, Parkinson s disease, schizophrenia, and dyslexia. Recent neuroanatomical studies have now identified a region in the rat brain that may be anatomically homologous to the PPC of primates. However, very few studies have addressed the specific behavioral functions of the rat PPC as it is now defined. Further understanding of PPC function in rats would allow subsequent research to take advantage of techniques more readily available in rodents (e.g., gene & protein expression) to explore the neurobiological mechanisms underlying attentional function. In the proposed research, a neural inactivation approach will be developed to more accurately ;haracterize the contribution of the rat PPC to attentional processes. Rats will be trained in a classical conditioning paradigm designed to increase attention to behaviorally-important stimuli. The PPC will be temporarily inactivated at the point in the procedures when attention is manipulated, to assess the importance of PPC function in this aspect of attentional processing. This approach will form the foundation for a more extensive research program which will explore the function of putative subregions of PPC as well as other components of the cortical attention network in different aspects of attention.

注意力功能缺陷与人类的多种状况有关，包括 精神分裂症、注意力缺陷障碍以及神经病理学（即阿尔茨海默病）和正常衰老。然而，在这种情况下出现的缺陷并没有提供关于注意力的精确神经基质的信息。这些信息将提供对注意力功能障碍的生物学基础的深入了解，并可能为治疗干预的新方法提供信息。 此外，更好地理解注意力的神经生物学可能有助于识别选择刺激的生物机制并获得进一步的处理，例如长期记忆。 在灵长类动物中，包括扣带皮层、额叶皮层和后顶叶皮层（PPC）在内的皮层网络被认为可以调节注意力功能。事实上，PPC 功能受损与阿尔茨海默病、帕金森病、精神分裂症和阅读障碍的注意力缺陷有关。最近的神经解剖学研究已经确定了大鼠大脑中的一个区域可能在解剖学上与灵长类动物的 PPC 同源。然而，很少有研究涉及目前定义的大鼠 PPC 的特定行为功能。对大鼠 PPC 功能的进一步了解将使后续研究能够利用啮齿类动物更容易使用的技术（例如基因和蛋白质表达）来探索注意力功能背后的神经生物学机制。 在拟议的研究中，将开发一种神经失活方法，以更准确地 ；描述大鼠 PPC 对注意力过程的贡献。老鼠将接受经典条件反射范式的训练，旨在提高对行为重要刺激的注意力。当注意力被操纵时，PPC 将暂时失活，以评估 PPC 功能在注意力处理这一方面的重要性。这种方法将为更广泛的研究项目奠定基础，该项目将探索 PPC 的假定子区域以及皮质注意力网络的其他组成部分在注意力不同方面的功能。