Tracking Flow of Attention in Visual Circuits Across the Brain

项目摘要 感觉处理是了解神经系统活动的一种方法。行为情境 强烈影响感官处理。例如，一个简短的视觉刺激更容易检测，如果它 出现在可预测的空间位置。这种对视觉空间的关注强烈地增强了 神经和行为反应的刺激，在这些位置，但详细的神经 跨越多个大脑区域的机制仍然未知。这主要是因为我们缺乏 实时测量多个大脑区域的特定神经元和回路的能力 引起视觉空间注意的行为。我们有着独特的优势 关键的知识差距，通过利用工具进行功能目标，多区域记录， 基因定义的神经元亚型，以建立注意信号的时间和组织 在整个视觉系统中流动。 这种创新的技术组合将使我们能够1）建立空间的神经计时 2）建立视觉空间注意的组织 3）建立多区域视觉空间注意的层状和细胞基质 网络 意义这个项目将满足一个重要的需要，了解如何内部 认知状态-注意-调节外部感觉事件的强度。建立 详细的蓝图，神经基板的注意力和感觉处理将提供更大的 了解认知灵活性，并提供对以缺陷为特征的条件的见解 注意力和感官知觉。 创新这项工作通过将视觉注意力任务与 光学靶向的，多区域神经像素群体记录， 神经元亚型和功能上分辨的输入、前馈和反馈通路。我们 通过定义内部认知因素，如注意力， 协调和增强主要感觉器官的多个阶段的信息处理 通路

PROJECT SUMMARY Sensory processing is a way to understand the nervous system in action. Behavioral context strongly affects sensory processing. For example, a brief visual stimulus is easier to detect if it appears in a predictable spatial location. This attention to visual space strongly enhances neural and behavioral responses to stimuli in those locations, but the detailed neural mechanisms spanning multiple brain areas remain unknown. This is largely because we lack the ability to measure specific neurons and circuits across multiple brain areas in real-time during behavior that elicits visual spatial attention. We are uniquely positioned to bridge this critical knowledge gap by leveraging tools for functionally targeted, multi-area recordings from genetically defined neuron subtypes to establish the timing and organization of attentional signal flow throughout the visual system during behavior. This innovative combination of techniques will enable us to 1) Establish neural timing of spatial attention across visual cortical areas 2) Establish organization of visual spatial attention networks 3) Establish laminar and cellular substrates for multi-area visual spatial attention networks SIGNIFICANCE. This project will meet a significant need to understand how an internal cognitive state—attention—modulates the intensity of external sensory events. Establishing a detailed blueprint for neural substrates of attention and sensory processing will provide greater understanding of cognitive flexibility, and provide insight for conditions characterized by deficits of attention and sensory perception. INNOVATION. This work provides technical innovation by pairing a visual attention task with optically targeted, multi-area Neuropixels population recordings from genetically resolved neuron subtypes and functionally resolved input, feedforward, and feedback pathways. We provide conceptual innovation by defining how an internal cognitive factor like attention coordinates and enhances information processing across multiple stages of a major sensory pathway.