Neural mechanisms of Contexual Predictions in Visual Cognition and Action

描述（由申请人提供）：人类大脑使用上下文和情感信息来促进视觉识别和动作，但对介导这种促进的神经机制知之甚少。 我们假设，上下文和情感的促进过程已经从一个原始的系统，识别环境中的威胁，因此应该紧密联系在一起的威胁识别和行动准备过程。 这些基本问题以前没有在一个统一的框架中进行过研究，对基础神经科学和许多精神和神经障碍（包括焦虑症、精神分裂症、抑郁症和自闭症）都有重要意义。 在这里，我们建议研究如何上下文和情感的预测，可以促进视觉识别和行动准备的心理物理学，功能磁共振成像和MEG/EEG相结合的方法。 除了解决这些新问题外，拟议的研究还将使候选人获得MEG/EEG的强化培训，并在上下文和情感处理的新认知和情感神经科学领域中发展概念和理论理解。 背景和情感处理，MEG/EEG和功能连接分析方面的新技能，以及候选人在功能磁共振成像和物体识别方面的现有优势，将有助于候选人在完成该奖项后开始完全独立的研究计划。 公共卫生相关性：拟议的研究计划侧重于视觉认知和行动的上下文和情感过程。 出于这个原因，这项研究有可能为许多精神和神经系统疾病中出现故障的神经和行为机制提供见解。 背景关联过程被认为在抑郁症和自闭症患者中受损。 拟议的研究对精神健康的影响特别重要，因为几乎所有的精神和许多神经系统疾病都观察到情感处理异常。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The human brain uses contextual and affective information to facilitate visual recognition and action, but little is known about the neural mechanisms mediating this facilitation. We have hypothesized that contextual and affective facilitation processes have evolved from a primitive system for identifying threats in the environment and therefore should be tightly linked with threat identification and action preparation processes. These fundamental questions have not been studied in a unified framework before and have important implications for both basic neuroscience, and for many mental and neurological disorders, including anxiety disorders, schizophrenia, depression, and autism. Here we propose to examine how contextual and affective predictions can facilitate visual recognition and action preparation with a combined approach of psychophysics, fMRI and MEG/EEG. The proposed research, in addition to addressing these novel questions, will allow the candidate to obtain intensive training in MEG/EEG and to develop conceptual and theoretical understanding in new cognitive and affective neuroscience domains of contextual and affective processing. The new skills in contextual and affective processing, MEG/EEG, and functional connectivity analyses, in conjunction with the candidate's existing strengths in fMRI and object recognition, will help to optimally prepare the candidate for starting a fully independent research program at the completion of this award. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The proposed research program focuses on contextual and affective processes in visual cognition and action. For this reason, this research has the potential to provide insights into the neural and behavioral mechanisms that are malfunctioning in many mental and neurological disorders. Contextual association processes are thought to be impaired in depression and autistic patients. The implications of the proposed studies for mental health are particularly significant because affective processing abnormalities are observed in virtually all mental, and many neurological disorders.