Investigating the Role of the Retrosplenial Cortex in Multi-step Planning

项目摘要/摘要 多步骤计划是人类认知及其在精神分裂症等障碍中的损害的基本基础 在日常情况下打乱目标导向的行为。规划的关键是对备选方案的评估 行为基于环境的内部模型，但这个过程的确切神经实现是 人们对此知之甚少。有几条证据表明，记忆与脾后皮质(RSC)有关， 展望和行动评估，使RSC成为基于模型的评估的候选区域 很可能是为了支持规划而执行的。然而，RSC在多步计划中的作用从来没有直接 已经测试过了。该项目将通过将细胞分辨率钙成像和 化学发生微扰对两步作业大鼠RSC神经元活动的监测和沉默 这需要制定计划。通过使用这一策略，我们将直接评估RSC内神经元的活动(1) 对未来行动的基于模型的价值进行编码，以及(2)在 两步任务-可以直接确定RSC在多步计划中的角色的两个关键证据。身份识别 支持多步骤规划的神经元反应将促进我们对 认知基础的神经计算过程，并提供关于干扰的直接翻译研究 精神病患者的灵活行为。这个项目的目标与大脑的使命产生了共鸣 整合创新的实验和计算技术以了解神经的首创性 多步骤计划和目标导向行为的机制，具有指导诊断和治疗的潜力 相关精神障碍的治疗干预。

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Multi-step planning is a fundamental basis of human cognition and its impairment in disorders like schizophrenia disrupts goal-directed behavior in everyday situations. Essential to planning is the evaluation of alternative actions based on an internal model of the environment, but the exact neural implementation of this process is poorly understood. Several lines of evidence have implicated the retrosplenial cortex (RSC) in memory, prospection, and action evaluation, which makes the RSC the candidate region where model-based evaluation is most likely performed to support planning. However, the role of RSC in multi-step planning has never directly been tested. This project will address this gap by integrating cellular-resolution calcium imaging and chemogenetic perturbation to monitor and silence the activity of RSC neurons in rats performing a two-step task that elicits planning. By using this strategy, we will directly assess whether the activity of neurons in the RSC (1) encodes the model-based value of future actions and (2) causally contributes to planning behavior during the two-step task - two key evidence that can directly determine RSC’s role in multi-step planning. The identification of neuronal responses supporting multi-step planning will advance our basic understanding of the neurocomputational processes underlying cognition and inform direct translational research on the disruption of flexible behavior among psychiatric patients. The aims of this project resonate with the mission of the BRAIN Initiative in integrating innovative experimental and computational technologies to understand the neural mechanisms of multi-step planning and goal-directed behavior, with potentials for guiding the diagnosis and therapeutic intervention of related psychiatric disorders.