The neural mechanisms responsible for recognizing and remembering novel objects and scenes

 描述（由申请人提供）：我们记住我们所遇到的图像和场景的能力是显着的-我们可以正确地确定我们是否已经看到了一个图像之前，观看数千，每一个只有几秒钟。支持视觉“熟悉”记忆的神经过程被认为与支持视觉对象“识别”的神经过程在相同的大脑区域中实现，但两者都知之甚少。视觉熟悉性记忆的损伤，包括那些伴随痴呆症等疾病的损伤，导致毁灭性的无法识别自己的家人或家。该提案中描述的实验利用了新技术，使我们能够监测神经群体反应，以研究“新颖”的图像如何在单一图像曝光中变得“熟悉”。首先，我们将确定不同的大脑区域对视觉熟悉性记忆的相对贡献，包括V4，IT和嗅周皮层。接下来，我们将确定视觉物体识别和视觉熟悉性记忆是否以及如何由相同的神经回路支持。最后，我们将测试熟悉性记忆存储是否包括一种机制，抑制引起弱视觉反应的图像的记忆，并放大那些强烈的记忆。这些结果将提供至关重要的见解负责视觉熟悉性记忆的神经机制，他们有可能建议熟悉性记忆功能障碍的治疗目标。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Our ability to remember the images and scenes that we have encountered is remarkable - we can correctly determine whether we have seen an image before after viewing thousands, each only for a few seconds. The neural processes that support visual "familiarity" memory are thought to be implemented in the same brain areas as those that support visual object "recognition", but both are poorly understood. Impairments in visual familiarity memory, including those that accompany disorders such as dementia, lead to devastating inabilities to recognize one's own family or home. The experiments described in this proposal take advantage of new techniques that allow us to monitor neural population responses to study how "novel" images become "familiar" across single image exposures. First, we will determine the relative contributions of different brain regions to visual familiarity memor, including V4, IT and perirhinal cortex. Next, we will determine whether and how visual object recognition and visual familiarity memory are supported by the same neural circuits. Finally, we will test whether familiarity memory storage includes a mechanism that suppresses memories of images that elicit weak visual responses and amplifies those that are strong. These results will provide crucial insights into the neural mechanisms responsible for visual familiarity memory and they have the potential to suggest targets for the treatment of familiarity memory dysfunction.