Oscillatory Contributions to Working Memory and Attention

描述（由申请人提供）：工作记忆是指对信息的积极的心理保留，对信息的操纵，以及对信息在指导行为中的应用。它在许多类型的高水平认知中的作用，作为跨广泛的实验和“现实世界”测量的个体差异的一个因素，以及作为许多精神和神经疾病的一个因素，使得它对认知和临床神经科学的许多分支都很重要。本研究的重点是阐明神经振荡对工作记忆和相关的注意认知结构的贡献。振荡在大脑中无处不在，但它们在支持许多类型的认知和行为方面的作用仍然知之甚少，在某些情况下，还存在争议。方法方法是用脑电图（EEG）测量认知任务执行过程中的神经振荡，在某些情况下，同时应用重复经颅磁刺激（rTMS），在某些情况下，对数据应用多元模式分类分析（MVPA）。rTMS可以在许多方面扩展单独使用EEG可以学到的东西：它可以偏置内源性的延迟周期振荡，以证明它们对行为的因果影响；它可以“揭开”在纯脑电图数据中不明显的脑电图功能相关成分；它可以提供有效连通性的直接指标。MVPA是这项研究的一个重要工具，因为它可以评估一个信号是否代表了工作记忆中保存的信息（这是依赖于信号强度水平解释的传统技术无法推断的）。这项建议涉及两个具体目标。首先是验证延迟期振荡活动携带刺激特异性信息的假设。这一目标的两个焦点将是工作记忆中存储信息的神经机制，但在注意焦点之外，以及解决与工作记忆相关的事件相关电位，对侧延迟活动（CDA），是否反映了信息存储本身，还是对认知负荷敏感的更一般的状态。第二个具体目的是测试工作记忆和注意力任务是由共同的振荡模式支持的假设，以及这些模式的功能随环境而变化。这些研究将有助于

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Working memory refers to the active mental retention of information, to its manipulation, and to its use in guiding behavior. Its role in many types of high level cognition, as a factor underlying individual differences across a broad spectrum of experimental and "real world" measures, and as a factor in many psychiatric and neurological diseases, makes it important to many branches of cognitive and clinical neuroscience. The focus of this proposal is to elucidate the contributions of neural oscillations to working memory and to the related cognitive construct of attention. Oscillations are ubiquitous in the brain, but their role in supporting many types of cognition and behavior remains poorly understood and, in some cases, controversial. The methodological approach is to measure neural oscillations during cognitive task performance with the electroencephalogram (EEG), in some cases while simultaneously applying repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), and in some cases applying multivariate pattern classification analysis (MVPA) to the data. rTMS can extend what can be learned with EEG alone in many ways: It can bias endogenous, delay-period oscillations to demonstrate their causal influence on behavior; it can "unmask" functionally relevant components of the EEG that are not evident in EEG-only data; and it can provide direct indices of effective connectivity. MVPA is an important tool for this research, because it can assess whether a signal is representing the information that is being held in working memory (something that cannot be inferred by more tradition techniques that rely on interpretation of signal intensity levels). Two specific aims are addressed in this proposal. The first is to test th hypothesis that delay-period oscillatory activity carries stimulus-specific information. Two foci o this aim will be the neural mechanism for storing information that is in working memory, but outside the focus of attention, and addressing whether an event-related potential associated with working memory, contralateral delay activity (CDA), reflects information storage per se, or a more general state that is sensitive to cognitive load. The second specific aim is to test the hypothesis that working memory and attentional tasks are supported by common oscillatory patterns, and that the functions of these patterns vary with context. These studies will contribute to theoretical models of working memory, as well as to a better understanding of the mechanistic role of neuronal oscillations in working memory and attention. In addition to the basic science questions outlined here, there is translational relevance for this work for the diagnosis and treatment of psychiatric disorders that are associated with abnormal neural oscillations.