Neural Mechanisms of Attention and Choice Valuation During Decision-Making

决策过程中注意和选择评估的神经机制

• 批准号: 7276924
• 负责人: ROBERT JOHN SCHAFER
• 金额: $ 4.1万
• 依托单位: STANFORD UNIVERSITY
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2007
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2007-06-26 至 2010-06-25
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/7276924
• 关键词: Address; Affect; American; Area; Attention; Attention Deficit Disorder; Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder; Basal Ganglia; Behavior; Brain; Cognitive; Complex; Decision Making; Decision Modeling; Disease; Disruption; Electrodes; Eye Movements; Foundations; Goals; Human; Knowledge; Light; Mental Health; Mental disorders; Modeling; Monitor; Monkeys; Movement; Neuroanatomy; Neurons; Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder; Outcome; Pathway interactions; Pattern; Peripheral; Prefrontal Cortex; Process; Production; Research; Resources; Rewards; Role; Schizophrenia; Signal Transduction; Site; Stimulus; Visual; Visual Cortex; Visual attention; Work; addiction; attentional modulation; base; caudate nucleus; frontal eye fields; frontal lobe; information gathering; markov model; neuromechanism; nonhuman primate; relating to nervous system; research study; role model; sound; trait; visual stimulus

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Adaptive decision-making requires both attention to relevant environmental stimuli and accurate estimation of the consequences of possible actions. Disruption of these processes is devastating to mental health, and is common to numerous mental disorders including schizophrenia, addiction, obsessive-compulsive disorders, and attention-deficit disorders. Despite the importance of attention and choice option valuation, little is known about the neural mechanisms that underlie these processes, and ultimately drive decisions. The proposed research will describe the attentional dynamics that underlie and influence choice valuation, and will thus provide a better understanding of the human decision-making process. First, through electrophysiological recording of attention-related signals in monkey prefrontal cortex, we will examine how attentional resources are divided and dynamically allocated between two visual targets. While current models of human divided attention address the ability to attend to two spatially distinct stimuli, the underlying mechanisms and temporal dynamics behind divided attention are still a mystery. By understanding precisely how information is continuously gathered from two visual targets, we will begin to understand how two or more choice options can be valuated and compared during a value-based choice. Next, by examining these attentional dynamics during a choice itself and modulating spatial attention with electrical microstimulation of prefrontal cortex, we will determine how attention interacts with option valuation during a value-based choice. Recent research and numerous choice models suggest that an object's valuation depends greatly on the attentional resources allocated to it. By monitoring attention signals during a choice we can address this hypothesis, and by experimentally modulating attention with microstimulation we will attempt to directly affect the valuation process. The grand product of this work will be a mechanistic model of the role of attention in a value-based decision. The results will impact our knowledge of healthy, adaptive decision-making as well as the disorders that can devastate this complex behavior. Schizophrenia, addiction, and attention-deficit disorders affect millions of Americans, and share a common trait: the disruption of the pathway required to attend to, valuate, and make the best choice out of many options. This research will investigate how the attention and valuation processes occur and interact in the brain, providing a strong foundation from which to study these mental disorders.

描述（申请人提供）：适应性决策既需要注意相关的环境刺激，也需要准确估计可能采取的行动的后果。这些过程的中断对心理健康是毁灭性的，并且常见于许多精神障碍，包括精神分裂症、成瘾、强迫症和注意力缺陷障碍。尽管注意力和选择权估值很重要，但人们对这些过程背后的神经机制知之甚少，并最终推动决策。拟议的研究将描述的注意力动态的基础和影响的选择评价，从而将提供一个更好地了解人类的决策过程。首先，通过对猴前额叶皮层注意相关信号的电生理记录，我们将研究注意资源是如何在两个视觉目标之间分配和动态分配的。虽然目前的人类分散注意力模型解决了注意两个空间上不同的刺激的能力，但分散注意力背后的潜在机制和时间动态仍然是一个谜。通过精确地理解信息是如何从两个视觉目标连续收集的，我们将开始理解在基于价值的选择中，两个或更多的选择选项是如何被评估和比较的。接下来，通过检查选择过程中的这些注意力动态，并通过对前额叶皮层的电微刺激来调节空间注意力，我们将确定在基于价值的选择过程中注意力如何与期权估值相互作用。最近的研究和众多的选择模型表明，一个物体的估价很大程度上取决于分配给它的注意力资源。通过监测选择过程中的注意力信号，我们可以解决这个假设，并通过实验调节注意力与微刺激，我们将试图直接影响估价过程。这项工作的伟大成果将是一个关于注意力在基于价值的决策中所起作用的机械模型。研究结果将影响我们对健康、适应性决策的认识，以及可能导致这种复杂行为的疾病。精神分裂症、成瘾和注意力缺陷障碍影响着数百万美国人，它们有一个共同的特点：在众多选择中，注意力、价值和最佳选择所需的途径被破坏。这项研究将探讨注意力和评价过程如何在大脑中发生和相互作用，为研究这些精神障碍提供坚实的基础。