Parietal mechanisms of vision and attention

视觉和注意力的顶叶机制

• 批准号: 6602819
• 负责人: Jacqueline Gottlieb
• 金额: $ 29.38万
• 依托单位: NEW YORK STATE PSYCHIATRIC INSTITUTE DBA RESEARCH FOUNDATION FOR MENTAL HYGIENE, INC
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2003
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2003-07-03 至 2008-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/6602819
• 关键词: Macaca mulatta; attention; behavior test; behavioral /social science research tag; brain electrical activity; brain mapping; neural information processing; neuropharmacology; parietal lobe /cortex; sensory discrimination; sensory signal detection; visual fields; visual perception

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The parietal cortex is critically important for the control of spatial attention. In humans, unilateral damage to the parietal lobe can cause severe contralateral neglect - a syndrome characterized by failure to notice and orient toward objects contralateral to the lesioned hemisphere. The difficulties in neglect represent deficits of attention rather than sensory or motor deficits. In non-human primates, research has focused primarily on the role of the parietal cortex in the control of movement, in particular exploratory movements of the eye, arm or hand. Much less is known about the parietal mechanisms of attention and vision. The long-term goal of research in my laboratory is to determine the parietal mechanisms underlying vision and attention independently of movement. The proposed experiments will use neurophysiological experiments in conjunction with behavioral testing in awake, behaving monkeys. In some experiments neural activity is recorded while monkeys perform psychophysical tasks designed to measure attention. In other experiments, minute amounts of drugs are injected into the area analyzed, which temporarily silence this area, and the behavioral effects of such transient inactivation are measured. These experiments will allow us to characterize the neural activity associated with visual attention and the importance of a particular set of neurons for directing attention. We will concentrate on a subdivision of monkey posterior parietal cortex known as the lateral intraparietal area. Although evidence suggests that this area is important for vision and attention, its specific contributions have never been investigated. The experiments are designed to determine the impact of this parietal area on three aspects of vision that are strongly dependent on attention: the detection of isolated objects within the field of view (Aim 1); the discrimination of individual objects in crowded visual environments (Aim 2); and the orienting of attention based on voluntary factors and physical salience (endogenous and exogenous cues, respectively; Aim 3). The results are expected to significantly advance our understanding of the neural mechanisms of attention and to bring us closer toward establishing an animal model of neglect.

描述（由申请人提供）：顶叶皮层对于空间注意力的控制至关重要。在人类中，顶叶的单侧损伤可导致严重的对侧忽视——一种以无法注意和定向受损半球对侧物体为特征的综合征。忽视的困难代表注意力缺陷，而不是感觉或运动缺陷。在非人类灵长类动物中，研究主要集中在顶叶皮层在运动控制中的作用，特别是眼睛、手臂或手的探索性运动。人们对注意力和视觉的顶叶机制知之甚少。我实验室研究的长期目标是确定独立于运动的视觉和注意力的顶叶机制。拟议的实验将结合神经生理学实验和对清醒、有行为能力的猴子的行为测试。在一些实验中，当猴子执行旨在测量注意力的心理物理任务时，会记录神经活动。在其他实验中，将微量药物注入分析区域，暂时使该区域安静下来，并测量这种短暂失活的行为影响。这些实验将使我们能够表征与视觉注意力相关的神经活动以及一组特定神经元对于引导注意力的重要性。我们将重点关注猴子后顶叶皮质的一个细分部分，称为外侧顶叶内区域。尽管有证据表明该区域对于视力和注意力很重要，但其具体贡献从未被研究过。这些实验旨在确定该顶叶区域对强烈依赖于注意力的视觉三个方面的影响：检测视野内的孤立物体（目标 1）；在拥挤的视觉环境中区分单个物体（目标 2）；以及基于自愿因素和身体显着性（分别为内源性和外源性线索；目标 3）的注意力定向。研究结果预计将显着增进我们对注意力神经机制的理解，并使我们更接近建立忽视的动物模型。