CRCNS: Dynamics of thalamocortical networks during sensory discrimination

丘脑皮质网络对基本神经感觉处理和基础认知至关重要 注意力、知觉和工作记忆等功能。这些网络的功能障碍被认为是 影响几种神经疾病和一些精神疾病的症状；然而， 日常工作中丘脑皮质网络的动力学即使在健康人中也是知之甚少。 认知功能。丘脑是具有不同作用和联系的核团的复杂聚集体 模式。关于这些不同的原子核如何与 大脑皮层中的各种感觉、运动和关联区。特别是，高阶丘脑的作用 核团，每个核都分散地投射到几个皮质区域，以及丘脑的作用 抑制大多数丘脑其他核团的网状核仍然知之甚少。 为了阐明丘脑皮质网络内的动态相互作用，这项研究将测量活动 在各种感觉辨别任务中，在皮质的所有背侧区域和许多丘脑核团中， 类似于通常用于研究健康和疾病认知功能的任务。我们会 通过光遗传抑制模拟丘脑几个不同区域的损伤以阐明它们的 在比较中扮演的角色。接下来，我们将研究丘脑之间的这些动态相互作用 当动物开始学习这些任务并获得熟练技能时，核团和皮质区域就会发展 性能。我们设计的一个关键方面是，我们将仔细监控自发运动和我们的 分析将控制丘脑核团中与这些运动相关的活动，这通常是 与认知任务相关，否则会混淆分析。 该项目将阐明不同的高阶丘脑核团和皮质反馈对 这些核团在控制几种感觉通道的认知过程中起作用。我们预计这些发现将 对感觉处理过程中丘脑皮质网络的功能有许多见解，从而导致更大的 用于神经学和精神病学研究的动物模型中认知功能的理解 精神错乱。

Thalamocortical networks are critical for basic neural sensory processing and for foundational cognitive functions such as attention, perception, and working memory. Dysfunction of these networks is thought to affect symptomology of several neurological disorders and some psychiatric disorders; however, the dynamics of thalamocortical networks during everyday tasks are poorly understood even in healthy cognitive function. The thalamus is a complex aggregation of nuclei with distinct roles and connection patterns. Fundamental questions remain regarding how these many distinct nuclei interact with the various sensory, motor and association areas in cortex. In particular, the roles of higher-order thalamic nuclei, each of which projects diffusely across several cortical regions, and the role of the thalamic reticular nucleus, which inhibits most other thalamic nuclei, remain poorly understood. In order to clarify the dynamic interactions within thalamocortical networks, this study will measure activity in all dorsal regions of cortex and in many thalamic nuclei during a variety of sensory discrimination tasks, similar to those tasks commonly used for studies of cognitive function in health and disease. We will simulate impairment of several distinct thalamic regions through optogenetic inhibition to elucidate their roles in comparisons. Next, we will investigate how these dynamic interactions between the thalamic nuclei and cortical regions develop as animals begin to learn these tasks and as they acquire skilled performance. A key aspect of our design is that we will carefully monitor spontaneous motions and our analyses will control for activity in the thalamic nuclei related to these movements, which are often correlated with cognitive tasks, and would otherwise confound the analyses. This project will elucidate the roles of the different higher-order thalamic nuclei and of cortical feedback to these nuclei in gating cognitive processes across several sensory modalities. We expect these findings to yield many insights about thalamocortical network function during sensory processing, leading to greater understanding of cognitive function in the animal models used to study neurological and psychiatric disorders.