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Testing the roles of rat parietal and frontal cortices in a sensory decision task

测试大鼠顶叶和额叶皮质在感觉决策任务中的作用

基本信息

批准号：
8775131
负责人：
Timothy D. Hanks
金额：
$ 5.8万
依托单位：
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
财政年份：
2013
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
2013-12-01 至 2015-11-30
项目状态：
已结题

项目摘要

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): A central goal of cognitive neuroscience is to elucidate the neural processes that underlie decision making. Even simple decisions often rely on deliberation that extends in time beyond the immediate sensory environment. Thus, the brain requires mechanisms that allow information to combine over time during the deliberative process. This project aims to exploit a recently developed rat-based model of deliberative decision-making to study the neural process that underlies accumulation of evidence and decision commitment. The Brody lab has been able to train rats to perform the Poisson Clicks Accumulation task, where rats make a decision based on comparing the number of auditory clicks presented on two speakers, one to the left of the rat, the other to its right. It has been shown that rats temporally integrate the sensory evidence provided by the clicks to perform this task. We plan to test the extent to which two candidate areas of the rat brain -- the frontal orienting fields (FOF) and posterior parietal cortex (PPC) -- play a role in sensory evidence-based decision making. To do this, we will reversibly inactivate each area separately while rats perform the Poisson Clicks Accumulation task and measure the effect on performance. We will then test whether neurons in these areas represent quantities related to the accumulation of evidence and decision commitment in their responses by recording neural activity during performance of the task. Finally, we will explore the extent to which these areas play similar or different roles using a network model of the decision process. Fulfillment of the aims of this project would further our understanding of the neural processes that underlie decision making and also develop the rat as a model organism for future studies of these questions. Understanding these brain processes is a key step towards developing targeted, principled treatments for disorders of higher brain function.

描述（由申请人提供）：认知神经科学的一个中心目标是阐明决策背后的神经过程。即使是简单的决定，也往往依赖于时间上超越直接感官环境的深思熟虑。因此，大脑需要一种机制，使信息在审议过程中随着时间的推移而联合收割机。本研究旨在利用一个新近发展起来的基于大鼠的慎思决策模型来研究证据积累和决策承诺背后的神经过程。布罗迪实验室已经能够训练大鼠执行泊松点击累积任务，其中大鼠根据比较两个扬声器上呈现的听觉点击数量做出决定，一个在大鼠的左边，另一个在其右边。已经表明，大鼠在时间上整合由点击提供的感觉证据来执行该任务。我们计划测试大鼠大脑的两个候选区域-额叶定向场（FOF）和后顶叶皮层（PPC）-在基于感官证据的决策中发挥作用的程度。为此，我们将在大鼠执行泊松点击累积任务时分别可逆地标记每个区域，并测量对性能的影响。然后，我们将通过记录任务执行过程中的神经活动来测试这些区域中的神经元是否代表与证据积累和决策承诺相关的数量。最后，我们将探讨在何种程度上这些领域发挥类似或不同的作用，使用网络模型的决策过程。该项目目标的实现将进一步加深我们对决策背后的神经过程的理解，并将大鼠作为未来研究这些问题的模型生物。了解这些大脑过程是开发针对高级脑功能障碍的有针对性的原则性治疗方法的关键一步。