Examining Population Coding Underlying Complex Behavior in Freely Moving Primates

摘要 我提出了一项新技术，它将从根本上改变我们对大脑功能的理解， 与行为的关系。检查复杂的功能，如视觉，听觉，记忆，注意力，决策 传统上，睡眠是通过在实验室中研究非人类灵长类动物的大脑来进行的。 在计算机上呈现合成刺激时，头部和身体受到约束的环境 监视器.然而，人们越来越认识到，在一个受限制的实验室装置中研究大脑， 严重限制了我们理解大脑回路功能的能力。其实，当回应 单个神经元是在自然环境中测量的，它们往往与当它们被测量时不同。 在实验室环境中测量。此外，一直不清楚的是， 在实验室条件下描述的，如适应，学习或决策，可以复制时， 动物在自然环境中自由活动。为了克服这些限制，我将构建一个无线 该系统将允许神经科学家在群体水平上研究皮层动力学和可塑性， 非人灵长类动物在自然环境中自由活动。在一个不受约束的环境中研究大脑功能 环境将带来新的机遇。在宇宙中很难或不可能观察到的现象 实验装置，如觅食，睡眠或社会行为，现在将成为可能的研究。我们的技术 将使我们能够以更高的速度获得比以往任何时候都在活体中收集到的更多的大脑数据， 比今天可能的。由这样的系统记录的大量连续神经数据将是 极大的兴趣，临床医生和理论家研究的一般性质，正常和功能障碍的神经 网络.我们的系统不仅将带来对大脑疾病机制的医学见解，而且还将带来对大脑疾病机制的医学见解。 神经修复装置的实际应用。

ABSTRACT I propose a new technology that will fundamentally change our understanding of brain function and the relationship with behavior. Examining complex functions, such as vision, hearing, memory, attention, decision making, or sleep, have been traditionally performed by studying the brain of nonhuman primates in a laboratory environment in which the head and body are restrained while synthetic stimuli are presented on a computer monitor. However, it has become increasingly understood that studying the brain in a restrained laboratory rig poses severe limits on our capacity to understand the function of brain circuits. Indeed, when responses of individual neurons are measured in naturalistic settings they tend to be different compared to when they are measured in the laboratory environment. In addition, it has always been unclear whether phenomena well described in laboratory conditions, such as adaptation, learning, or decision making, can be replicated when animals freely move in their natural environment. To overcome these limitations, I will construct a wireless system that will allow neuroscientists to study cortical dynamics and plasticity at the population level while nonhuman primates are moving freely in their natural environment. Studying brain function in an unconstrained environment will open new opportunities. Phenomena that were difficult or impossible to observe in an experimental rig, such as foraging, sleep, or social behavior will now become possible to study. Our technology will allow us to acquire vastly more brain data than has ever been gathered in live subjects, at a much higher rate than is possible today. The large quantity of contiguous neural data recorded by such a system will be of great interest to clinicians and theorists studying general properties of normal and dysfunctional neural networks. Our system will lead not only to medical insights into the mechanisms of brain disorders, but also to practical applications for neuronal prosthetic devices.