Transforming Vestibular Information for Human Action

改变人类行为的前庭信息

• 批准号: G0501740/1
• 负责人: Brian Day
• 金额: $ 178.55万
• 依托单位: University College London
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2006
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2006 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=G0501740%2F1
• 关键词: Transforming; Vestibular; Information; Human; Action

The vestibular organs in the inner ear provide the brain with important sensory information for many motor and perceptual functions. In the past, research into understanding these mechanisms has been hampered by the inability to selectively stimulate the vestibular system without affecting other sensory systems or affecting the behaviour of interest. In recent years we have pioneered vestibular stimulation techniques that allow us to do this non-invasively in human subjects. We plan to develop these techniques further and use them to investigate some specific mechanisms in the brain that are necessary for using vestibular information to control different types of motor behaviour. Such mechanisms are vital but not very much is known about them. We plan to investigate these mechanisms in human subjects and try to understand how they work, which parts of the brain are involved, and how they are affected by neurological disease to produce functional deficits. First, we will use our vestibular stimulation techniques to develop ways of probing these mechanisms associated with the different motor systems that control the eyes, balance, or voluntary movement. We shall then use this information to study how the mechanisms break down in specific neurological diseases. To do this we will study patients who have had a stroke affecting the parietal cortex, or who have a genetic disease that disrupts the cerebellum. We shall also use a brain stimulation technique to disrupt the normal function of the parietal cortex in healthy subjects. These investigations will tell us about the roles played by these specific parts of the brain in the mechanisms, whether these brain areas control vestibular input to all motor systems equally, and the resulting functional deficits caused by stroke and cerebellar disease.

内耳的前庭器官为大脑提供许多运动和感知功能的重要感觉信息。过去，由于无法在不影响其他感觉系统或影响感兴趣行为的情况下选择性刺激前庭系统，因此阻碍了对这些机制的研究。近年来，我们开创了前庭刺激技术，使我们能够在人类受试者中无创地做到这一点。我们计划进一步开发这些技术，并用它们来研究大脑中的一些特定机制，这些机制对于使用前庭信息控制不同类型的运动行为是必需的。这些机制至关重要，但人们对它们知之甚少。我们计划在人类受试者中研究这些机制，并尝试了解它们如何工作、涉及大脑的哪些部分以及它们如何受到神经系统疾病的影响而产生功能缺陷。首先，我们将使用前庭刺激技术来开发探索与控制眼睛、平衡或随意运动的不同运动系统相关的机制的方法。然后我们将利用这些信息来研究特定神经系统疾病中这些机制是如何分解的。为此，我们将研究患有影响顶叶皮质的中风或患有破坏小脑的遗传疾病的患者。我们还将使用脑刺激技术来破坏健康受试者顶叶皮层的正常功能。这些研究将告诉我们大脑的这些特定部分在机制中所扮演的角色，这些大脑区域是否平等地控制所有运动系统的前庭输入，以及中风和小脑疾病引起的功能缺陷。