Cognitive Thalamus

项目总结 枕核(PUL)和背内侧核(MD)是已知在丘脑中起作用的高级结构 在各种认知领域中的关键角色。然而，确切的机制尚不清楚，理论上 这表明它们在门控或促进其大脑皮层靶点之间的功能连接方面所起的作用。 重要的是，最近来自精神分裂症患者的证据表明，这些高级丘脑-皮质 相互作用受到干扰，甚至可能是疾病病因的原因。在这个中心，我们聚集在一起 一组研究人员，他们将利用人类和非人类的行为、电生理学和成像 1.识别丘脑高级核团相互作用中的认知功能组织原理 2.将丘脑的功能从动物模型移植到健康和患病的人脑； 以及3.为人类高阶丘脑建立一个生物学上可信的模型。该中心将被划分为 分成5个科学项目和3个核心。项目1(Pi Usrey)将结合电生理学和光学 研究注意加工过程中PUL和早期视觉皮质区域之间的相互作用的扰动。 项目二(Pi Kastner)将在猕猴身上采取大规模网络方法来研究猕猴之间的相互作用 注意中灵长类特有的mdPUL细分和额顶网络，以及相互作用的研究 在层级推理和任务转换中，MD和额叶皮质之间存在差异。项目3(Pi Halassa) 将在图帕亚结合光学微扰、电生理学和疾病建模来研究相互作用 注意的背侧流和腹侧流的PUL调节与额叶皮质的MD调节 分层推理中的交互作用。项目4(Pi Collins/Arcaro)将结合功能神经成像和 人类询问PUL和MD在注意和注意中与其皮质伙伴接触的行为 分别进行分层推理。这将开始一项令人兴奋的努力，以确定哪些类型的 在人类大脑中，丘脑对认知的贡献已经扩大。项目5(Pi Woodward)将 检查精神分裂症患者的行为-大脑关系(注意-冲动和决策-MD)， 其中已知高阶丘脑与皮质伙伴的连接结构完整性受损。 核心A(Pis Kastner、Halassa和Usrey)将对该中心进行行政管理，并涉及重要的 外展和培训活动。核心B(陈皮)将为所有项目提供分析支持，并简化 以通用格式跨PI收集、管理和共享数据，并允许与 更广泛的社区。核心C(Pi Kopell)将生成迭代改进的计算模型 通过收集的数据，并提供可持续的可测试的预测。总而言之，发射成功 承诺为认知处理的神经回路提供新的框架 以及丘脑是如何成为精神分裂症患者提高认知能力的靶子。

PROJECT SUMMARY The Pulvinar (PUL) and Mediodorsal (MD) nuclei are higher order thalamic structures that are known to play critical roles in various cognitive domains. However, the precise mechanisms are unknown, with theories suggesting their role in either gating or facilitating functional connectivity across their cortical targets. Imoprtantly, recent evidence from schizophrenia patients suggests that these higher order thalamic-cortical interactions are perturbed and may even be causative to disease etiology. In this Center, we have assembled a group of investigators who will utilize behavior, electrophysiology, imaging in human and non-human animals to 1. Identify cognitive functional organization principles of higher-order thalamic nuclei in interacting with cortex; 2. Translate thalamic functionality from animal models to the healthy and diseased human brain; and 3. Develop a biologically plausible model for the human higher-order thalamus. The Center will be divided into 5 Scientific Projects and 3 Cores. Project 1 (PI Usrey) will combine electrophysiology and optical perturbations to study interactions between PUL and early visual cortical areas during attentional processing. Project 2 (PI Kastner) will take a large-scale network approach in the macaque to study interactions between the primate-specific mdPUL subdivision and fronto-parietal networks in attention, and also study interactions between the MD and frontal cortical areas in hierarchical reasoning and task switching. Project 3 (PI Halassa) will combine optical perturbations, electrophysiology and disease modeling in Tupaia to study interactions between PUL regulation of dorsal vs. ventral stream selection in attention, and MD regulation of frontal cortical interactions in hierarchical reasoning. Project 4 (PI Collins/Arcaro) will combine functional neuroimaging and behavior in humans to interrogate PUL and MD engagement with their cortical partners in attention and hierarchical reasoning, respectively. This will begin an exciting endeavor of determining what types of higher order thalamic contributions to cognition have expanded in the human brain. Project 5 (PI Woodward) will examine behavior-brain relationships (attention-PUL and decision making-MD) in schizophrenia patients, where the structural integrity of higher order thalamic connectivity to cortical partners is known to be impaired. Core A (PIs Kastner, Halassa and Usrey) will administratively manage this Center and involve important outreach and training activities. Core B (PI Chen) will provide analytical support for all projects and streamline data collection, curation and sharing across PIs with common format, as well as allow for data sharing with the broader community. Core C (PI Kopell) will generate computational models that will be iteratively refined by the collected data and provide testable prediction on an ongoing basis. Altogether, successful launching of this Center promises to provide new frameworks for the neural circuitry underlying cognitive processing and how the thalamus may be a target for enhancing cognition in schizophrenia.