FMRI studies of visual attention

描述（由申请人提供）：目前的研究将利用最近开发的高分辨率功能性MRI技术来观察猴子和人类执行相同隐蔽注意力任务的群体水平反应。最初，有视野地形图的额叶和顶叶区域将通过更复杂的认知任务来识别，比如延迟扫视和工作记忆任务。感兴趣的功能区将从地形区域中定义，以便研究它们在视觉空间注意中的作用。这两个物种都将执行一个隐蔽的注意力任务，以识别与每个物种的注意力过程有关的大脑区域网络。数据分析技术将包括兴趣功能区分析以及基于全脑规范化的更传统的聚类水平分析。研究了地形区域与空间定向注意的关系。为了确定类似的区域，将使用来自先前研究和当前地形和注意力研究的趋同证据，对被确定为注意力网络一部分的区域进行跨物种比较。这些研究将为今后利用单细胞生理学或损伤方法对动物进行侵入性研究提供靶点信息。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The current research will take advantage of recently developed high-resolution functional MRI techniques to observe population-level responses in monkeys and humans performing the same covert attention task. Initially, frontal and parietal areas that have topographic maps of the visual field will be identified using more complex cognitive tasks, such as a delayed saccade and a working memory task. Functional regions of interest will be defined from topographic areas in order to investigate their role in visual spatial attention. Both species will perform a covert attention task to identify the network of brain regions involved in attentional processes for each species. Data analysis techniques will include a functional region of interest analysis along with more traditional cluster-level analysis based on whole-brain normalization. The relationship between topographic areas and those recruited during spatially directed attention will be investigated. Areas identified as part of the attentional network will be compared across species, using converging evidence from prior research and the current topographic and attentional studies in order to identify analogous regions. These studies will provide information about target sites for future invasive studies in animals using single-cell physiology or lesion methods.