Proj 5: Role of Locus Coeruleus in Decision Outcome (p. 261 - 283)

去甲肾上腺素能蓝斑(LC)系统与多种行为功能有关，大多数 尤其是对显著感官事件的反应。最近，我们发现猴LC神经元具有时相性。 在时间上与目标探测中的行为反应密切相关，并显著领先于行为反应 和强迫选择任务。然而，这些反应的功能仍不清楚。我们假设 LC系统是由将感觉输入与运动输出联系起来的决策过程驱动的，而阶段 LC响应有助于决策所涉及的行为的执行。在这里，我们提出一套 行为和电生理实验描述LC反应和 检查眼眶额叶皮质在LC患者驱动决策相关反应中的作用，以及 为了测试这种LC阶段激活在促进行为反应中的因果作用 已经决定了。总之，这些研究将为灵长类动物的这一决定奠定神经生物学基础 在本中心其他项目中的心理学、建模和成像研究中调查的过程。

The noradrenergic locus coeruleus (LC) system has been implicated in several behavioral functions, most notably response to salient sensory events. Recently we found that monkey LC neurons are phasically activated in close temporal relation to, and significantly preceding, behavioral responses in target-detection and forced-choice tasks. However, the function of these responses remains unknown. We hypothesize that the LC system is driven by decision processes that link sensory input to motor output, and that the phasic LC response facilitates the execution of behaviors engaged by the decision. Here we propose a set of behavioral and electrophysiological experiments to delineate the relationship between LC responses and decisions, to examine the role of the orbital frontal cortex in driving decision-related responses in LC, and to test for a causal role of such LC phasic activation in facilitating behavioral responses that have been decided upon. Together, these studies will establish the neurobiological basis in primates for the decision processes investigated in psychological, modeling and imaging studies in other projects of this Center.