Cortical Processing of Visual Motion

这项研究的长期目标是了解简单形式的基于视觉的认知的神经机制，特别是基于视觉的决策。这些项目将重点放在一个高级大脑结构网络上，这个网络似乎可以将对视觉世界的感知转化为行动计划。先前的研究表明，这个网络包括顶叶和额叶的皮质区以及中脑结构，如上丘。类似的结构网络在人类中也存在，因此拟议的研究很可能直接有助于我们对人类视觉的发展知识， 认知，以及他们的临床障碍。在即将到来的资助期内，我们将致力于实现三个具体目标： 1.电微刺激技术将被用来严格测试每个候选神经结构在基于视觉的决策中所起的因果作用。 2.将采用刺激和记录相结合的技术来检验特定的假设 关于连接这些区域的功能电路以及它们之间流动的信息。 3.电生理学技术将被用来研究、识别和研究计算有机体对可选动作的“主观价值”的神经机制。心理学和经济学研究表明，感知价值对决策产生巨大影响。 总之，拟议的实验将为理解一种简单认知形式背后的神经机制提供相当大的推动力。这项工作与健康有关的最终价值将源于对心理功能的生物学基础的理解。影响精神功能的神经和精神疾病对我们公民的健康和福祉造成巨大损失。这些疾病特别隐蔽，因为它们慢慢地剥夺了患者的正常认知能力--这是个人身份的本质。了解大脑活动如何引起正常受试者的心理功能，无疑将有助于更深入地了解各种疾病过程中的问题，并为此类疾病提供有用的治疗方法。

The long-term goal of this research is to understand the neural mechanisms underlying simple forms of visually based cognition, including visually based decision-making in particular. The projects will focus on a network of high-level brain structures that appears to translate perception of the visual world into plans for action. Prior studies indicate that this network includes cortical areas of the parietal and frontal lobes as well as midbrain structures such as the superior colliculus. A similar network of structures is present in humans, and the proposed research is thus likely to contribute directly to our developing knowledge of human vision, cognition, and their clinical disorders. Three specific aims will be pursued during the coming grant period: 1. Electrical microstimulation techniques will be employed to test rigorously the causal role played by each candidate neural structure in visually-based decision making. 2. Combined stimulation and recording techniques will be employed to test specific hypotheses concerning the functional circuitry that connects these areas and the infromation that flows between them. 3. Electrophysiological techniques will be employed to study identify and study the neural mechanisms that compute the "subjective value" that an organism places on alternative actions. Psychological and economic studies have shown that perceived value exerts an enormous influence on decisionmaking. Together the proposed experiments will provide considerable impetus toward understanding the neural mechanisms underlying a simple form of cognition. The ultimate health-related value of this work will follow from an understanding of the biological basis of mental function. Neurological and psychiatric diseases that affect mental function take a massive toll on the health and well-being of our citizenry. These diseases are particularly insidious because they slowly rob the afflicted person of normal cognitive abilities - the very essence of personal identity. Understanding how brain activity gives rise to mental function in normal subjects will undoubtedly provide a deeper understanding of what goes wrong in various disease processes, and suggest useful therapeutic approaches for such diseases.