Components of Pupillary Dilation and Cognition

瞳孔扩张和认知的组成部分

• 批准号: 7106118
• 负责人: Stuart Robert Steinhauer
• 金额: $ 29.31万
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 1997
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1997-01-01 至 2011-02-28
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/7106118
• 关键词: attention; behavioral /social science research tag; bioimaging /biomedical imaging; clinical research; cognition; cognition disorders; dark adaptation; functional magnetic resonance imaging; human subject; light adaptations; major depression; mydriatic /cycloplegic; neural information processing; neuroimaging; parasympathetic nervous system; psychophysiology; pupillary reflex; schizophrenia; short term memory; sympathetic nervous system

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This revised application requests continuing support to evaluate characteristics of information processing deficits in schizophrenia. Central to this research is the dissociation of processing effort from informational utilization. We suggest that most schizophrenia patients are actively expending effort to attend to information, while cognitive deficits reflect disturbances in analysis, integration, and manipulation of information. We propose to assess changes in pupil diameter because the pupillary system is exquisitely sensitive to differential activation on the basis of processing effort and informational complexity. A key objective is to evaluate differential sympathetic and parasympathetic innervation of the pupil to quantify the extent of cognitive deficits, while providing evidence for intact effortful processing in the same schizophrenia patients. Psychophysiological assessment will be carried out as patients perform tasks varying in attentional and processing demands. In the current application, special emphasis has been placed on paradigms associated with the concept of working memory, which has strongly impacted current views of processing deficits in schizophrenia. A psychiatric control group of depressed individuals also will be studied. To delineate the pathways that contribute to the changes in the pupillary control system, two non-invasive methodologies are employed. 1) The contribution of the parasympathetic pathway will be enhanced through modulation of illumination. 2) In schizophrenia patients and healthy control subjects, the final sympathetic and parasympathetic pathways will be isolated at separate experimental sessions by temporary pharmacological blockade of the complementary neuromusculature junction of the pupil. Direct evaluation of the relationship of pupillary changes and activation of brain regions will be accomplished by a study of concurrent pupillary and neuroimaging data in schizophrenia patients and healthy controls. Elucidating the neurophysiological systems that are affected in patients provides a rationale for exploring etiological factors and treatment strategies. Differentiation of processing capacity from general mental effort, in particular, allows a clear examination of the types of cognitive deficits in schizophrenia. Findings will further pinpoint functional systems to be examined using current and future imaging technologies.

描述（由申请人提供）：此修订后的申请要求持续支持，以评估精神分裂症信息处理缺陷的特征。这项研究的核心是信息利用的加工努力的分离。我们认为，大多数精神分裂症患者都积极地花费精力去关注信息，而认知缺陷反映了信息分析、整合和操纵方面的障碍。我们建议评估瞳孔直径的变化，因为瞳孔系统是非常敏感的差异激活的基础上处理的努力和信息的复杂性。一个关键目标是评估瞳孔的交感神经和副交感神经分布差异，以量化认知缺陷的程度，同时为同一精神分裂症患者的完整努力处理提供证据。当患者执行注意力和处理需求不同的任务时，将进行心理生理学评估。在当前的应用中，特别强调了与工作记忆概念相关的范式，这强烈影响了目前对精神分裂症处理缺陷的看法。还将研究一个由抑郁症患者组成的精神病对照组。为了描绘有助于瞳孔控制系统变化的途径，采用了两种非侵入性方法。1)副交感神经通路的贡献将通过照明的调制来增强。2)在精神分裂症患者和健康对照受试者中，最终的交感神经和副交感神经通路将在单独的实验阶段通过临时药理学阻断瞳孔的互补神经肌肉组织接头来隔离。通过对精神分裂症患者和健康对照组的瞳孔和神经影像学数据进行研究，将直接评价瞳孔变化与脑区激活的关系。阐明患者受影响的神经生理系统为探索病因和治疗策略提供了理论基础。特别是，将处理能力与一般脑力劳动区分开来，可以清楚地检查精神分裂症的认知缺陷类型。研究结果将进一步确定使用当前和未来成像技术检查的功能系统。