Perceptual Learning and Sleep

描述（由申请人提供）：越来越多的证据表明，睡眠有助于感知学习。然而，这种促进作用的潜在机制在很大程度上是未知的。睡眠过程中有两种可能的加工类型可以解释易化作用：使用依赖性加工和学习巩固加工。依赖于使用的处理发生在睡眠期间的大脑机制中，通常在睡眠前的清醒期间使用。这种处理导致神经处理的一般变化，而不是专门为了学习而发生的。另一方面，学习巩固过程是专门为学习而工作的.关于使用依赖性加工是否足以实现促进动作，学习巩固加工是否是促进动作的必要条件，一直存在很大争议。了解睡眠期间发生的处理类型对于阐明睡眠促进感知学习的机制至关重要，因为尚未直接测试哪种模型有效。我们在本提案中处理这个问题。 睡眠由不同的动力学组成，例如在每个快速眼动（REM）和非快速眼动（NREM）睡眠中自发脑振荡中的多个频带所反映的动力学。这就提出了一种可能性，即在整个睡眠期间，只有一种类型的处理不一定会持续发生：学习巩固处理可能发生在某些皮层区域的某些频带上，而使用依赖处理可能发生在其他区域。因此，我们将系统地研究学习巩固加工或使用依赖加工是否发生在每个REM和NREM睡眠的每个带中，以及不同的大脑区域。 为了测试学习巩固处理是否是促进睡眠期间知觉学习所必需的，我们将比较睡眠期间遵循导致学习的任务表现（学习范式）的时空脑激活模式与睡眠期间遵循不导致学习的任务表现（干扰范式）的时空脑激活模式。为此，我们必须获得有关睡眠期间大脑激活的高度局部化的时空信息;我们将使用尖端的神经成像技术，将脑磁图（MEG）和脑电图（EEG）的精细时间信息与磁共振成像（MRI）的精细空间信息以及早期视觉区域的个体视网膜定位图相结合，估计精确定位的皮层区域中的自发振荡活动的功率和相位信息。成像将与多导睡眠描记术测量同时进行，以客观地识别睡眠阶段。 成功的研究结果将提供重要的知识，以澄清如何改善知觉学习的视觉任务和视觉可塑性发生在睡眠中的任务训练后。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): A growing body of evidence suggests that sleep facilitates and is beneficial to perceptual learning. However, the underlying mechanism of this facilitatory action is largely unknown. There are two possible types of processing during sleep that may account for the facilitatory action: use-dependent processing and learning- consolidation processing. The use-dependent processing occurs during sleep in the brain mechanisms that are generally used during wakefulness prior to sleep. This processing leads to general changes of neural processing and does not occur specifically for the sake of learning. On the other hand, the learning- consolidation processing works specifically for learning. It is highly controversial concerning whether the use- dependent processing is sufficient for the facilitatory action or whether learning-consolidation processing is necessary for the facilitatory action. It is fundamentally important to know which type of processing occurs during sleep to clarify the mechanism of sleep facilitating perceptual learning, since it has not been directly tested which model is valid. We address this question in the present proposal. Sleep consists of different dynamics, such as those reflected by a multitude of frequency bands in spontaneous brain oscillations in each rapid eye movement (REM) and non-REM (NREM) sleep. This raises the possibility that only one type of processing does not necessarily occur consistently throughout the whole sleep period: the learning-consolidation processing might occur for some frequency bands in some cortical areas, while use-dependent processing might occur for others. Thus, we will systematically examine whether learning-consolidation processing or use-dependent processing occurs in each band in each REM and NREM sleep, and in different brain area(s). To test whether the learning-consolidation processing is necessary for facilitating perceptual learning during sleep, we will compare the spatio-temporal brain activation patterns during sleep that follows task performance that causes learning (learning paradigm) with those during sleep that follows task performance that does not cause learning (interference paradigm). For this purpose, we must obtain highly localized spatio- temporal information about brain activation during sleep; we will use a cutting-edge neuroimaging technique that combines fine temporal information from magnetoencephalography (MEG) and electroencephalography (EEG) with fine spatial information from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as well as individual retinotopic mapping in the early visual areas, to estimate the power and phase information of spontaneous oscillatory activities in the precisely localized cortical regions. Imaging will be conducted with concurrent polysomnography measurement to objectively identify sleep stages. Successful research results would provide significant knowledge to clarify how improvement of perceptual learning of a visual task and visual plasticity occurs during sleep after training of the task.