Anatomical, neural, and computational constraints on sensory cross-modal plasticity following early blindness

早期失明后感觉跨模态可塑性的解剖学、神经学和计算限制

• 批准号: 10570400
• 负责人: Woon Ju Park
• 金额: $ 12.68万
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-04-01 至 2025-03-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10570400
• 关键词: Adult; Anatomy; Area; Arithmetic; Auditory; Award; Behavioral; Blindness; Brain; Brain region; Compensation; Development; Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Environment; Equilibrium; Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Goals; Human; Individual; Learning; Link; Literature; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; Mathematics; Measurement; Measures; Mediating; Mentors; Modality; Modeling; Motion; Neuroanatomy; Neuronal Plasticity; Neurons; Neurophysiology - biologic function; Neurotransmitters; Noise; Outcome; Perception; Performance; Positioning Attribute; Process; Property; Psychophysics; Reading; Recycling; Rehabilitation therapy; Research; Research Personnel; Rest; Role; Sensory; Signal Transduction; Techniques; Testing; Tissues; Training; Universities; Vision; Visual Motion; Visually Impaired Persons; Washington; Work; auditory stimulus; blind; density; design; diffusion weighted; experience; flexibility; gamma-Aminobutyric Acid; neural; neurochemistry; novel; programs; recruit; response; sensory cortex; skills; spatiotemporal; spectroscopic imaging; visual deprivation; visual process; white matter

Project Summary/Abstract Early blindness results in dramatic neuroplasticity within the human brain; anatomical and functional organization is altered at almost every level, ranging from neurotransmitter balance to neural function. I plan to combine psychophysics, computational functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), diffusion-weighted MR imaging (dMRI), and MR spectroscopy (MRS) to investigate the anatomical, neural, and computational constraints of plasticity following early blindness. This proposal is driven by the hypothesis that cortical plasticity resulting from early blindness may share many of the same underlying mechanisms as ‘neuronal recycling, whereby the development of novel cortical functions (such as reading in sighted individuals) relies on the ‘recycling’ of evolutionarily older circuits that originally evolved for different, but similar, functions. I plan to examine this idea in the context of cross-modal plasticity within the visual motion area hMT+. Area hMT+, which processes visual motion in sighted individuals, responds selectively to auditory motion in early blind individuals. In Aim 1, using a combination of dMRI and fMRI, I will examine if the cross-modal responses to auditory motion within hMT+ in early blind individuals co-localizes with pre-existing anatomical connectivity between hMT+ and the auditory motion area right planum temporale (rPT). In Aim 2, I will test the hypothesis that auditory motion processing in EB is influenced by the spatiotemporal tuning within hMT+, using a combination of psychophysics and fMRI. In Aim 2, I will also examine whether the recruitment of hMT+ for auditory motion processing in early blind individuals results in a loss of sensitivity to auditory motion in rPT. Finally, in Aim 3, using a combination of psychophysics and fMRI, I will see if auditory motion responses in hMT+ can be explained by a classic model of divisive normalization that has been extensively used to model hMT+ visual motion responses in sighted individuals. By including MRS GABA measurements, I will further test whether the lower signal to noise associated with auditory rather than visual motion input results in an adaptive reduction in suppression, mediated by lower GABA concentrations. The training will focus on computational fMRI, dMRI, and MRS, which will augment my background in characterizing diverse human perceptual experiences using psychophysics and modeling. My mentors at the University of Washington (Drs. Ione Fine, Ariel Rokem, and Scott Murray) will provide excellent training in all the techniques used in this proposal. The award will provide an important opportunity for me to uniquely position myself in the field as an independent researcher with a strong research program that investigates the neuroanatomical basis of plasticity following visual deprivation.

项目总结/摘要 早期失明导致人类大脑中戏剧性的神经可塑性;解剖学和功能组织 从神经递质平衡到神经功能，几乎在每一个层面上都发生了变化。我打算把联合收割机 精神物理学，计算功能磁共振成像（fMRI），弥散加权磁共振成像 （dMRI）和MR波谱（MRS）研究的解剖，神经，和计算的限制， 早期失明后的可塑性这一建议是由假设，皮层可塑性造成的， 早期失明可能与神经元再循环有许多相同的潜在机制， 新的皮层功能的发展（如视力正常的人的阅读）依赖于大脑皮层的“再循环”。 进化上更古老的电路，最初进化为不同但相似的功能。 我计划在视觉运动区域hMT+的跨模态可塑性的背景下研究这个想法。区域 hMT+在正常人中处理视觉运动，在早期盲人中选择性地响应听觉运动 个体在目标1中，使用dMRI和fMRI的组合，我将检查是否跨模态反应， 早期失明个体中hMT+内的听觉运动与预先存在的解剖连接性共同定位 hMT+与听觉运动区右颞平面（rPT）之间的关系。在目标2中，我将检验假设 EB中的听觉运动处理受到hMT+中时空调谐的影响，使用 结合了心理物理学和功能磁共振成像在目标2中，我还将研究是否招募hMT+用于 早期失明个体的听觉运动处理导致rPT中对听觉运动的敏感性丧失。 最后，在目标3中，结合使用心理物理学和fMRI，我将看看hMT+中的听觉运动反应是否 可以用一个经典的分裂归一化模型来解释，该模型已被广泛用于对hMT+进行建模 视力正常的人的视觉运动反应通过包括MRS GABA测量，我将进一步测试是否 与听觉而不是视觉运动输入相关联的较低信噪比导致自适应降低 在抑制中，由较低的GABA浓度介导。 培训将集中在计算功能磁共振成像，dMRI和MRS，这将增加我的背景， 使用心理物理学和建模来表征不同的人类感知体验。我的导师们 华盛顿大学（Ione Fine，Ariel Rokem和Scott Murray博士）将在所有领域提供出色的培训。 本提案中使用的技术。该奖项将为我提供一个重要的机会， 我自己在该领域作为一个独立的研究人员与一个强大的研究计划，调查 视觉剥夺后可塑性的神经解剖学基础。