A Dynamic Neural Field Theory of Where-What Integration

描述（由申请人提供）：人类特别擅长记住局部工作空间中物体的布局。本提案调查了这种快速灵活地形成、维护和更新这种“认知地图”的能力的时间依赖性过程。理解这种能力的一个核心挑战是理解人们如何将“where”与“what”整合在一起。神经生理学证据表明，视觉系统在功能和解剖学上分离为分别表示空间位置（“where”）和物体属性信息（“what”）的背侧和腹侧通路。尽管大量的工作已经阐明了这些单独的处理流的运作，但对空间和非空间信息是如何集成的了解甚少。这项拨款的目的是发展和测试一种神经学上似乎合理的“在哪里-什么”整合理论。研究计划将这样一个理论形式化，并测试从其中心概念中得出的具体预测。具体目标1研究人们如何将非空间特征“绑定”在一起，形成以世界为中心的空间参照系为基础的对象表征。具体目标2检查在短延迟期间保持对象表示和检测对象特征变化的机制。具体目标3强调了将“什么”与“在哪里”联系起来的优势：人们可以通过将这些表征与实时空间系统耦合来灵活地更新工作记忆表征。以一种神经上合理的方式理解“在哪里”和“做什么”的整合是至关重要的，原因有两个。首先，有令人信服的证据表明，在包括多动症、威廉姆斯综合症、精神分裂症和阿尔茨海默氏症/痴呆症在内的几种精神健康障碍中，普遍存在的行为问题是在“何处-什么”整合方面的缺陷造成的。其次，理解背侧和腹侧通路的整合是任何以生态学为基础的方式将大脑和行为联系起来的神经理论的核心要求。事实上，我们的方法的真正希望在于这些主题的交叉点：发展一种理论，可以解决行为和神经缺陷，这些缺陷是特定精神健康障碍的基础。公共卫生相关性：这项资助的目标是开发和测试一种神经理论，研究人们如何将物体所在位置的信息与物体的记忆结合起来。实现这一目标将对我们对精神健康的理解产生广泛的影响，因为“在哪里-什么”整合的缺陷是几种精神健康障碍的行为问题的基础，包括多动症、威廉姆斯综合征、精神分裂症和阿尔茨海默氏症/痴呆症。理解“在哪里”和“是什么”的整合也是任何旨在以生态学为基础的方式将大脑和行为联系起来的理论的核心要求。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Humans are exceptionally good at remembering the layout of objects in a local workspace. The present proposal investigates the time-dependent processes that underlie this ability to quickly and flexibly form, maintain, and update such `cognitive maps'. A central challenge to understanding this ability is to understand how people integrate `where' with `what'. Neurophysiological evidence suggests a functional and anatomical segregation of the visual system into dorsal and ventral pathways that represent spatial location (`where') and object property information (`what'), respectively. Although a great deal of work has clarified the operation of these processing streams in isolation, much less is known about how spatial and non-spatial information is integrated. The goal of this grant is to develop and test a neurally- plausible theory of where-what integration. The research plan formalizes such a theory and tests specific predictions derived from its central concepts. Specific Aim 1 examines how people `bind' non-spatial features together to form object representations grounded in a world-centered spatial frame of reference. Specific Aim 2 examines the mechanisms that maintain object representations during short delays and detect changes in object features. Specific Aim 3 highlights the advantages of grounding `what' in `where': people can flexibly update working memory representations by coupling these representations to a real-time spatial system. Understanding the integration of `where' and `what' in a neurally-plausible way is critical for two reasons. First, there is compelling evidence that deficits in where-what integration underlie the behavior problems prevalent in several mental health disorders including ADHD, Williams Syndrome, Schizophrenia, and Alzheimer's/Dementia. Second, understanding the integration of dorsal and ventral pathways is a core requirement of any neurally-plausible theory that purports to link brain and behavior in an ecologically grounded way. Indeed, the real promise of our approach lies at the intersection of these themes: to develop a theory that can address both the behavioral and neural deficits that underlie specific mental health disorders. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The goal of this grant is to develop and test a neural theory of how people integrate information about where objects are located with memory for what the objects are. Achieving this goal will have broad implications for our understanding of mental health because deficits in `where-what' integration underlie the behavior problems in several mental health disorders including ADHD, Williams Syndrome, Schizophrenia, and Alzheimer's/Dementia. Understanding the integration of `where' and `what' is also a core requirement of any theory that purports to link brain and behavior in an ecologically grounded way.