The Role of Areas V1 and V2 in Target Selection

描述（由申请人提供）：这是一个修改后的应用程序，已考虑到谁已经评估了资助的初始提交的裁判的意见。在一个单独的部分，逐点回应的批评。初步研究部分已经扩大，包括一系列的试点实验，我们已经进行了过去六个月，处理由裁判提出的中央批评，并提供证据，证明所提出的项目是可行的，并可能导致显着的新的理解的作用区域V1和V2在目标选择与视觉引导眼球运动。这个补助金申请取代EY00676题为视觉系统中的并行信息处理，我们决定不再更新，因为该补助金下的工作已经基本完成，因为我们所做的新发现决定了我们努力的转变。 该研究的目的是确定灵长类动物的V1和V2区在扫视眼动选择视觉目标中起什么作用。恒河猴将接受各种行为任务的训练，以使我们能够研究它们的视觉能力以及它们通过扫视眼球运动选择视觉目标的能力。单细胞记录、微刺激和GABA能神经递质激动剂和拮抗剂的应用将用于评估V1和V2区如何相互作用以及它们如何促进对视觉目标的扫视眼球运动的产生。该建议是基于我们实验室最近的一组研究结果，该研究已经确定这两个区域主要参与视觉引导的扫视眼球运动的目标选择。这项工作表明，V1和V2的颗粒下层的电刺激增强了在非常低的电流水平下对视觉目标的扫视眼球运动的产生，而颗粒上层的刺激干扰了目标选择。除了澄清V1和V2在产生视觉引导的扫视眼球运动中的作用外，拟议的研究应该对视觉弱势者的微刺激假肢有重要意义，因为它将详细说明微刺激对视觉皮层不同层的影响以及各种神经递质在这个过程中扮演的角色。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This is a revised application that has taken into account the comments of the referees who have evaluated the initial submission of the grant. In a separate section, a point-by-point response is made to the criticisms. The Preliminary Studies section has been expanded to include a series of pilot experiments we had carried out the past six months that deal with the central criticisms advanced by the referees and provide evidence that the projects proposed are feasible and are likely to lead to significant new understanding of the role areas V1 and V2 play in target selection with visually guided eye movements. This grant application replaces EY00676 entitled Parallel information processing in the visual system that we decided not to renew because the work under that grant has been largely completed and because the new discoveries we had made dictate a shift in our effort. The aim of the proposed research is to determine what role areas V1 and V2 of the primate play in the selection of visual targets with saccadic eye movements. Rhesus monkeys will be trained on a variety of behavioral tasks to enable us to study their visual capacities and their ability to select visual targets with saccadic eye movements. Single-cell recordings, microstimulation, and the application of GABAergic neurotransmitter agonists and antagonists will be used to assess how areas V1 and V2 interact and how they contribute to the generation of saccadic eye movements to visual targets. The proposal is based on a recent set of findings from our laboratory that has established that these two areas are centrally involved in target selection with visually guided saccadic eye movements. The work has shown that electrical stimulation of the infragranular layers of V1 and V2 enhances the generation of saccadic eye movements to visual targets at very low current levels whereas stimulation of the supragranular layers interferes with target selection. In addition to clarifying the role of V1 and V2 in the generation of visually guided saccadic eye movements, the proposed research should have significant bearing on microstimulation prosthetics for the visually disadvantaged as it will specify the effects of microstimulation of different layers of the visual cortex and what roles various neurotransmitters play in the process.