Cortical control of the eye and arm in humans & monkeys

描述（由申请人提供）：人类和猴子都有高度发达的能力来引导眼睛和手臂对空间物体的精确运动，这种能力主要在大脑皮层中实现。通过猕猴的单神经元电生理学和人类的代谢成像（如功能磁共振成像[fMRI]和PET）研究了大脑皮层对眼睛和手臂引导的控制。直到最近，从人类和猴子身上获得的数据还不能直接比较，因为神经元和代谢活动之间的相关性还没有被牢固地建立起来。为了解决这个问题，我们建议在清醒的、行为正常的人类和猴子中进行平行实验。人类和猴子将在密切匹配的fMRI环境中执行眼睛和手臂运动任务。本实验的目标有两个：(1)我们将测试关于每个物种的眼睛和手臂控制的大脑组织的特定假设，特别强调定位手眼协调的神经基质。(2)我们将通过比较猴子和人类在相似条件下获得的数据来研究猴子和人类皮层组织之间潜在的同源性。我们的结果可能会增强我们对人类和非人类灵长类动物的高级脑功能的理解，并将在解释在人类中进行的神经成像实验中具有特别的价值。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Humans and monkeys share a highly-developed capacity to guide accurate movements of the eye and arm toward objects in space, a capacity which is largely implemented in the cerebral cortex. Cortical control of eye and arm guidance have been studied through single-neuron electrophysiology in macaque monkeys and metabolic imaging (e.g. functional magnetic resonance imaging [fMRI] and PET) in humans. Until recently, data obtained from humans and monkeys could not be directly compared, since the correlation between neuronal and metabolic activity has yet to be firmly established. To address this issue, we propose to conduct parallel experiments in awake, behaving humans and monkeys. Humans and monkeys will perform eye and arm movement tasks in closely matched fMRI environments. The goals for the proposed experiments are twofold: (1) We will test specific hypotheses concerning the cerebral organization of eye and arm control in each species, with particular emphasis on localizing the neural substrates for eye-hand coordination. (2) We will investigate potential homologies between cortical organization in monkeys and humans by comparing data obtained from the two species under similar conditions. Our results are likely to enhance our understanding of higher brain function in both human and non-human primates, and will be of particular value in interpreting neuroimaging experiments conducted in humans.