Project III: Functions of the Mirror Neuron System in Adult Monkeys

项目III：摘要 由于它们在单细胞水平上的描述，镜像神经元(MN)表现出可塑性，这只是在最近 年份一直被认为是理解它们的发展和可能的关键特征 对几个心理/行为过程的贡献。此计划项目中的先前调查结果 证明镜像神经元系统(MNS)在不同的社会环境下会发生显著的变化。 环境和汽车体验。通过使用不同的方法(单细胞记录、EEG和 行为/行为学评估)我们发现，特定的社会/运动经历(学习使用工具， 或与社会伙伴协调行动)对MN活动和个人的 理解别人的动作，也是在他们的运动技能之外。这些发现表明：1) 社会环境对这个系统的形成和完善起着重要作用；2)一个更大的大脑网络 可能参与调节MN活动和促进社会认知；3)关键学习 机制参与了MN的形成和调整。尽管取得了这些重要成就，但 MNS可塑性的社会因素及其神经生理机制(在单细胞水平上)仍然存在 在很大程度上没有被开发，也没有被很好地理解。在当前的项目中，我们建议解决这些问题 通过调查成年猕猴的核心问题a)学习使用工具过程中MN的活动，b) 神经网络与顶叶-前运动神经镜像电路一起参与动作编码 社会互动，以及c)MN区域对大脑EEG信号的因果作用。在这种情况下，主要的 本研究的目的如下：目的1.研究视觉运动和感觉运动的影响 使用工具的经验对猴子前驱运动MN的视觉反应。这项研究将 连续5周记录猴子在视觉状态下运动前皮质神经元的活动 暴露在不熟悉的工具动作下几周，或接受使用工具培训。目标2.确定 调节猴腹侧运动前皮质神经元活动的社会背景 腹外侧额叶皮质。我们将研究，在F5和腹外侧额叶皮质， MN和其他神经元在视觉任务中需要猴子简单地观察一个动作，取决于 在社会背景下，将针对不同的目标(社会或非社会)。目标3.调查两者之间的关系 α、β频段MU去同步化与MN在脑电活动之间的关系 猴的腹侧运动前皮质(F5)和顶下小叶(IPL)。虽然脑电(MU) 节律)被广泛用作MN活动的间接测量，但目前还没有直接证据表明这一联系。 为了解决这个问题，我们将使用一种创新的方法(由核心B支持)来同时记录 猴F5和IPL MN不同皮质层的活性和头皮的EEG活性。到时候我们会的 用药理学方法研究这两个区域在Mu节律产生中的因果作用 失活F5和IPL，并记录随后的α和β脑电修改。

Project III: Abstract Since their description at the single cell level, mirror neurons (MN) exhibited plasticity, which only in recent years has been considered as a critical feature for understanding their development and their possible contributions to several psychological/behavioral processes. Prior findings in this Program Project demonstrated that the mirror neurons system (MNS) undergoes significant changes depending on social environment and on motor experience. By using different methodologies (single cell recording, EEG and behavioral/ethological assessment) we found that specific social/motor experiences (learning to use a tool, or acting in coordination with social partners) have profound effects on MN activity and on individual’s understanding of others’ actions, also when outside their motor repertoire. These findings suggest that: 1) the social environment plays an important role in shaping and refining this system; 2) a larger brain network is likely involved in modulating MN activity and in contributing to social perception; 3) key learning mechanisms are involved in shaping and tuning the MNS. Despite these important achievements, the role of social factors in MNS plasticity and their neurophysiological mechanisms (at the single cell level) have still been largely unexplored and are not well understood. In the current project we propose to address these core questions by investigating in adult macaques A) the activity of MN during learning the use of a tool, b) the neural networks that, together with the parietal-premotor mirror circuit, are involved in action coding during social interactions, and c) the causal role of MN regions to brain EEG signals. Within this context, the primary aims of our research program are as follows: Aim 1. Investigate the effects of visual and sensorimotor experience with tools on monkey premotor MN visual response to tool actions. This study will chronically record for 5 weeks the activity of neurons in the monkey premotor cortex, while she is visually exposed for several weeks to unfamiliar tool actions or trained to use a tool. Aim 2. Determine the role of the social context in modulating activity of neurons in the monkey ventral premotor cortex and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex. We will investigate, in F5 and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, the activity of MN and other neurons during a visual task requiring a monkey to simply observe an action that, depending on the social context, will be aimed at different goals (social or non-social). Aim 3. Investigate the relation between mu-desynchronization in the alpha and beta frequency band and the activity of MN in the ventral premotor cortex (F5) and the Inferior Parietal Lobule (IPL) of the monkey. Although EEG (mu rhythm) is widely used as an indirect measurement of MN activity, there is yet no direct evidence of this link. To address this issue we will use an innovative method (supported by Core B) of simultaneously recording monkey F5 and IPL MN activity from different cortical layers and EEG activity from the scalp. We will then investigate the causal role of these two regions to the generation of the mu rhythm, by pharmacologically inactivating F5 and IPL, and recording the subsequent alpha and beta EEG modifications.