Analysis of Space by the Auditory System

描述（由申请人提供）：中枢神经系统的适应性可塑性对于损伤、中风或神经系统疾病后的功能恢复或使用假肢恢复听力后的功能恢复至关重要。虽然大脑的可塑性在生命早期是很强的，但在成年后就变得更加有限。本研究的重点是成年仓鸮中枢神经系统的可塑性，控制它的因素，以及如何最大限度地提高它的能力。我们将探索经验塑造成年仓鸮中枢听觉系统的功能和解剖学特性的机制。在中脑听觉定位通路中，细胞结构和功能的适应性变化可以被严格量化并以高灵敏度检测。感觉经验的操纵会导致幼年猫头鹰在功能、生理和解剖学上的巨大变化。这项研究将测试类似的经验操纵对成年猫头鹰的影响，并将探索可能调节这种可塑性的环境和心理因素。重组中脑听觉通路将诱导成年人暴露在各种证明制度的感官经验。可塑性将通过行为、神经生理学、解剖学和药理学技术进行评估。注意力和唤醒对可塑性的影响将通过将猫头鹰暴露于感觉运动丰富的会议来确定。此外，自然压力源，如社会优势，拥挤和环境变化，对细胞可塑性的影响将被测量。这些心理因素（注意力、唤醒和压力）的作用机制以及它们所参与的神经调节系统将被研究。我们将比较和对比的机制，可塑性在成年人与那些已被证明是在青少年运作。这项研究的结果将增加我们对经验如何塑造成人中枢听觉系统功能特性的理解。了解适应性可塑性的细胞机制和心理状态对这些机制的调节，将有助于制定最佳的教学策略和脑损伤、疾病或遗传缺陷修复后康复的最佳疗法。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Adaptive plasticity in the central nervous system is essential for the recovery of function following injury, stroke or neurological disease or following the restoration of hearing with prosthetics. Although the capacity for brain plasticity is great during early life, it becomes substantially more restricted in adults. This research focuses on the capacity for plasticity in the adult central nervous system, the factors that control it, and ways to maximize it. We will explore the mechanisms by which experience shapes the functional and anatomical properties of the central auditory system in adult barn owls. In the midbrain auditory localization pathway, adaptive changes in cellular structure and function can be quantified rigorously and detected with high sensitivity. Manipulations of sensory experience cause dramatic functional, physiological and anatomical changes in juvenile owls. This research will test the effects of similar manipulations of experience on adult owls and will explore environmental and psychological factors that may regulate this plasticity. Reorganization of the midbrain auditory pathway will be induced in adults by exposing them to various proven regimes of sensory experience. Plasticity will be assessed with behavioral, neurophysiological, anatomical and pharmacological techniques. The influence of attention and arousal on plasticity will be determined by exposing owls to sessions of sensorimotor enrichment. In addition, the effects of natural stressors, such as social dominance, crowding and environmental change, on cellular plasticity will be measured. The mechanisms of action of these psychological factors (attention, arousal and stress) and the neuromodulatory systems that they engage will be investigated. We will compare and contrast the mechanisms of plasticity in adults with those that have been shown to operate in juveniles. The results of this research will increase our understanding of exactly how experience shapes the functional properties of the adult central auditory system. Knowledge of the cellular mechanisms that underlie adaptive plasticity and of the regulation of these mechanisms by psychological state will help to formulate optimal strategies for teaching and optimal therapies for rehabilitation following brain injury, disease or remediation of genetic defects.