Complex Pattern Detection by the Retina

描述(由申请人提供)：这个项目的广泛目标是了解视网膜处理的范围和复杂性。这个项目建立在初步数据的基础上，该数据表明，视网膜可以快速学习视觉刺激中的简单模式，例如时间周期或平滑的运动轨迹，因此在违反预测模式后，神经节细胞的子集有选择地激活。这种认知负荷现象通常被认为只出现在大脑皮层，但在视网膜观察它们既能增强我们对神经回路计算能力的欣赏，也能让我们探索负责的机制，而这项任务往往无法在更多的中枢神经回路中完成。 其具体目标是：1)利用多电极阵列实验探索视网膜模式检测的特性；2)利用设计的刺激、药理学和计算模型研究时间模式检测的机制；3)研究视网膜检测运动间断的能力的特性和机制。 详细了解视网膜神经节细胞如何代表视觉世界是神经科学的根本兴趣，也是指导成功恢复视力的视网膜假体开发的重要因素。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The broad goals of this project are to understand the scope and sophistication of retinal processing. This project builds on preliminary data showing that the retina can quickly learn simple patterns in the visual stimulus, such as a temporal periodicity or a smooth motion trajectory, so that a subset of ganglion cells fires selectively after a violation of the predicted pattern. Such cognitively loaded phenomena are typically thought to arise only in the cortex, but observing them in the retina both enhances our appreciation of the computational capabilities of neural circuits and also allows us to explore the mechanisms responsible, a task that often cannot be carried out in more central neural circuits. The Specific Aims are: 1) exploring the properties of retinal pattern detection with multi-electrode array experiments; 2) studying the mechanisms of temporal pattern detection using designed stimuli, pharmacology, and computational models; 3) studying the properties of and mechanisms behind the retina's ability to detect motion discontinuities. A detailed knowledge of how the population of retinal ganglion cells represents the visual world is of fundamental interest to neuroscience and is also important for guiding the development of a retinal prosthesis to restore vision successfully.