CRCNS: Model-driven single-neuron studies of cortical remapping

描述(申请人提供)：在自然视觉中，人类和非人类灵长类动物每秒都会进行几次眼跳运动，导致视网膜输入的巨大变化。尽管这些经常是戏剧性的变化，我们的视觉感知仍然非常稳定，我们可以很容易地注意到并指导我们视觉环境中的对象的运动动作。这个项目将使用模型驱动的方法来研究连接视觉、注意力和眼球运动计划的神经回路，这些神经回路在自然视觉过程中稳定知觉和注意力的表征。实验数据将被收集并用于设计涉及眼跳补偿的视觉和眼动区的详细计算模型。计算(DE)和实验神经生理学(US)实验室之间的拟议合作利用了这两个学科的力量。Hamker实验室开发的视觉引导行为和跨扫视整合的生物学准确模型将指导设计和解释从清醒状态下的神经生理实验中获得的数据，并以迭代的方式在Mazer实验室执行行为灵长类动物，实验结果为模型修订提供信息，新的模型预测改变实验设计。这项拟议的研究将表征背侧和腹侧视区对稳定灵长类大脑的视觉和注意表征的贡献。从这些实验中获得的数据将确定负责整合眼动命令、自下而上的视觉输入和自上而下的注意信号的神经回路。这种方法将对自然视觉过程中背侧和腹侧视流之间的相互作用产生新的见解，并有助于我们理解目标导向的主动视觉感知，这是人类和非人类灵长类自然视觉的一个定义特征。这个项目的一个重要组成部分是计划研究的高度协作性。我们期待从这种跨学科的方法中获得巨大的好处，它严重依赖于严格遵守已知生理和解剖学约束的计算模型来指导我们的神经生理学实验。 1.培训。该提案包括一项详细的培训计划，旨在促进未来模型师和神经生理学家的国际培训。具体地说，我们将培训学生和博士后研究人员成为实验和理论方法方面的专家，以便使用提案中概述的混合方法推动该领域的发展。 2.教育及外展。我们计划组织两个关于注意力和眼球运动的深入研讨会。这些活动(一个在德国，一个在美国)将把来自其他机构和相关科学学科的研究人员聚集在一起，推动该领域的发展。此外，在供资期间，调查员将在年度会议(如SFN和COSYNE)上组织和主持1-2个讲习班/专题讨论会。最后，我们将通过耶鲁的STARS计划，通过在梅泽实验室提供培训、研究和指导机会，参与针对代表性不足群体的科学教育。 3.数据共享。在该项目期间产生的软件工具以及收集的行为和神经生理学数据将分发给神经科学界，以促进对实验数据的数据挖掘和二次分析。 4.对其他科学领域的影响。有效地分配有限的传感器资源也是计算机视觉和机器人研究人员面临的一个重要问题。了解灵长类大脑如何使用主动感知方法有效地分配视觉资源，将指导生物启发的计算机视觉算法和类人认知机器人的发展。 5.翻译含义。尽管这项拟议的研究不是翻译的，但越来越多的证据表明，包括自闭症谱系障碍、注意力缺陷多动障碍和精神分裂症在内的几种临床重要疾病与眼跳规划和视觉注意之间的行为联系受损有关。拟议的基础科学研究可能对未来的转译研究产生重大影响，可能导致更好地理解疾病病因、开发早期诊断工具和可能的干预策略。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): During natural vision humans and non-human primates make several saccadic eye movements each second that result in large changes in the retinal input. Despite these often dramatic changes, our visual percept remains remarkably stable and we can readily attend to and direct motor actions towards objects in our visual environment. This project will use a model-driven approach to investigate the neural circuits linking vision, attention and oculomotor planning that stabilize perceptual and attentional representations during natural vision. Experimental data will be collected and used to design a detailed computational model of the visual and oculomotor areas involved in saccade compensation. The proposed collaboration between a computational (DE) and experimental neurophysiological (US) laboratories leverages the power of both disciplines. Biologically accurate models of visually guided behavior and trans-saccadic integration developed in the Hamker lab will guide the design of and interpretation of data obtained from neurophysiological experiments in awake, behaving primates performed in the Mazer lab in an iterative fashion, with experimental results informing model revisions and new model predictions altering experimental designs. The proposed studies will characterize both dorsal and ventral stream visual area contributions to stabilizing visual and attentional representations in the primate brai. Data obtained from these experiments will identify the neural circuits responsible for integrating oculomotor commands, bottom-up visual inputs and top-down attention signals. This approach will yield novel insights into interactions between the dorsal and ventral streams during natural vision and facilitate our understanding of goal-directed, active visual perception, a defining feature of human and non-human primate natural vision. A critical component of this project is the highly collaborative nature of the planned research. We expect great benefits from this interdisciplinary approach, which depends critically on computational models that strictly adhere to the known physiological and anatomical constraints to guide our neurophysiological experiments. 1. Training. The proposal includes a detailed training plan intended to facilitate international training of future modelers and neurophysiologists. Specifically, we will train students and post-doctoral researchers to be experts in both experimental and theoretical approaches in order to advance the field using the hybrid approach outlined in the proposal. 2. Education and Outreach. We plan to organize two in-depth workshops on attention and eye movements. These events (one in Germany and one in the US) will bring together investigators from other institutions and related scientific disciplines to advance the field. In addition investigators will organize and chair 1-2 workshops/symposia at annual meetings (e.g., SFN and COSYNE) during the funding period. Finally, we will participate in science education for underrepresented groups through Yale's STARS program by providing training, research and mentoring opportunities in the Mazer lab. 3. Data Sharing. The software tools generated and behavioral and neurophysiological data collected during this project will be distributed to the neuroscience community to facilitate data mining and secondary analyses of experimental data. 4. Impact in other scientific fields. Efficient allocation of limited sensor resources is also a important problem faced by computer vision and robotics researchers. Understanding how the primate brain efficiently allocates visual resources using an active-sensing approach will guide development of biologically inspired computer vision algorithms and humanoid cognitive robots. 5. Translational Implications. Although the proposed research is not translational, there is a growing body of evidence suggesting that several clinically important conditions, including Autism Spectrum Disorder, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Schizophrenia, are associated with impaired behavioral links between saccade planning and visual attention. The proposed basic science studies could have significant implications for future translational research potentially leading to improved understanding disease etiology, development of early diagnostic tools and possible interventional strategies.