STRUCTURE ORGANIZATION OF MEMORY IN THE PRIMATE BRAIN

灵长类大脑中的记忆结构组织

• 批准号: 6629286
• 负责人: PETER R RAPP
• 金额: $ 33.41万
• 依托单位: ICAHN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT MOUNT SINAI
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2001
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2001-02-01 至 2006-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/6629286
• 关键词: Macaca mulatta; behavior test; brain injury; confocal scanning microscopy; cues; experimental brain lesion; hippocampus; histology; learning; memory; neural information processing; neural plasticity; neuroanatomy; neuropsychological tests; temporal lobe /cortex

Normal memory depends on a system of anatomically related structures in the medial temporal lobe that includes the hippocampal formation and perirhinal cortex. Damage to these structures causes profound impairment in the ability to establish a reliable record of the events and episodes that comprise our lives. The specific information processing functions that enable episodic memory are poorly understood, however, and there is no consensus on how the hippocampus and related brain regions contribute this capacity. The perspective developed in the present application is that advances in neurological research and cognitive psychology converge on a valuable strategy for defining the brain organization of memory in primates. In one set of experiments, intact monkeys and animals with selective ibotenic acid lesions of the hippocampus (the dentate gyrus, hippocampus proper, and subiculum) will be tested across a battery of assessments designed to manipulate demands on candidate operating characteristics of episodic memory: l) the temporal organization of memory, 2) memory for context, 3) "autobiographical" memory, and 4) the relational organization of memory. Although a variety of tasks are proposed, the underlying strategy involves a novel approach to cognitive assessment that uses carefully designed probe tests to go beyond standard accuracy measures, illuminating the representational structure of normal an disordered memory. By this design the overall aim is to define the information processing functions of the primate hippocampus that enable episodic memory. A second set of experiments targets a closely related goal. One perspective on the organization of the medial temporal lobe is that the hippocampus and perirhinal cortex operate as a functional unit, subserving overlapping and redundant processing capacities in support of memory. Other evidence suggests a different conclusion, that the structures comprising this system are functionally specialized. These alternatives will be evaluated in the proposed project by comparing the cognitive effects of damage to the hippocampus with selective aspiration lesions of the perirhinal cortex (Areas 35 and 36). Using the same extensive battery of assessments across investigations, the overall goal is to test the hypothesis that the hippocampus and perirhinal cortex mediate qualitatively distinct mnemonic processing functions. Taken together, the results will substantially illuminate the structure and organization of memory in the primate brain and, ultimately, fuel progress in research on a variety of clinical conditions in which the medial temporal lobe an memory are prominently affected.

正常记忆取决于内侧颞叶中解剖学相关结构的系统，包括海马结构和鼻周皮层。这些结构的损坏会严重损害我们对生活中的事件和事件建立可靠记录的能力。然而，人们对实现情景记忆的特定信息处理功能知之甚少，并且对于海马体和相关大脑区域如何贡献这种能力还没有达成共识。本申请提出的观点是，神经学研究和认知心理学的进展集中在定义灵长类动物记忆的大脑组织的有价值的策略上。在一组实验中，将对海马体（齿状回、海马体和下托）选择性鹅黄酸损伤的完整猴子和动物进行一系列评估，旨在操纵情景记忆候选操作特征的要求：1）记忆的时间组织，2）上下文记忆，3）“自传体”记忆，4）关系组织 的记忆。尽管提出了各种各样的任务，但基本策略涉及一种新颖的认知评估方法，该方法使用精心设计的探针测试来超越标准的准确性测量，阐明正常记忆和无序记忆的表征结构。通过这种设计，总体目标是定义灵长类海马体实现情景记忆的信息处理功能。第二组实验针对密切相关的目标。关于内侧颞叶组织的一种观点是，海马体和嗅周皮层作为一个功能单元运作，促进重叠和冗余的处理能力以支持记忆。其他证据表明了不同的结论，即构成该系统的结构在功能上是专门化的。在拟议的项目中，将通过比较海马体损伤与鼻周皮质（区域 35 和 36）选择性吸入损伤的认知影响来评估这些替代方案。在所有研究中使用相同的广泛评估，总体目标是检验海马体和嗅周皮层介导性质不同的助记处理功能的假设。总而言之，这些结果将极大地阐明灵长类动物大脑中记忆的结构和组织，并最终推动对内侧颞叶记忆受到显着影响的各种临床病症的研究取得进展。