Role of cortical connections to higher-order thalamic nuclei in visual decision-making

皮质与高阶丘脑核的连接在视觉决策中的作用

• 批准号: 10739488
• 负责人: Ariana R Andrei
• 金额: $ 12.89万
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS HLTH SCI CTR HOUSTON
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-09-01 至 2025-08-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10739488
• 关键词: Address; Affect; American; Anatomy; Animals; Area; Attention; Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder; Automobile Driving; Behavior; Behavioral; Blood - brain barrier anatomy; Brain; Cell Nucleus; Cells; Cognition; Cognitive; Communication; Complex; Decision Making; Detection; Development; Devices; Diffuse; Disease; Distal; Electrophysiology (science); Engineering; Focused Ultrasound; Genes; Goals; Health; Homologous Gene; Human; Individual; Knowledge; Lateral; Learning; Lesion; Macaca; Measures; Medial; Methodology; Methods; Monkeys; Neocortex; Neurons; Opsin; Organ; Perception; Performance; Phase; Population; Prefrontal Cortex; Primates; Psychophysics; Pulvinar structure; Reporting; Research; Rodent; Role; Schizophrenia; Sensory; Signal Transduction; Stimulus; Structure; Techniques; Technology; Testing; Thalamic Nuclei; Thalamic structure; Training; Transfection; Viral; Virus; Vision; Visual; Visual Perception; Visual attention; Work; area striata; awake; cell type; executive function; experience; improved; in vivo; neocortical; nervous system disorder; neural; neural circuit; neurophysiology; neuroprosthesis; nonhuman primate; novel; novel strategies; optogenetics; programs; response; sensory input; visual information; visual processing

PROJECT SUMMARY To guide decisions, visual information must flow from primary visual cortex (V1) to prefrontal cortex (PFC), via multiple, parallel cortico-cortical and cortico-thalamo-cortical connections. Both V1 and PFC have direct connections with the pulvinar, a higher-order nucleus of the thalamus, but the role of this nucleus in sensory processing is still largely mysterious. Importantly, much of the pulvinar has no homologue in rodents or carnivores, which makes studying it in nonhuman primates all the more important. This goal of this project is to uncover how direct connections between the cortex (V1 and PFC) and the pulvinar interact and impact visual perception and visually-guided decisions in non-human primates. To achieve this goal, the project proposes a novel method, using focused ultrasound to non-invasively open the blood brain barrier, in order to precisely target cortico-thalamic projections for causal, optogenetic manipulations. Current evidence points to a critical role for the pulvinar in redirecting visual attention, but its role in visually-guided decision-making and perception is less clear. To directly test how these cortico-thalamic projections affect visual perception and decision-making, these circuits will be optogenetically activated while monkeys perform challenging psychophysical tasks. We will then be able to assess the contribution of individual, cell-type specific, components of these circuits, by measuring changes in behavioral performance and differences in neural responses across multiple brain areas. The proposed projects builds on my experience implementing multi-area electrophysiological recordings and optogenetic manipulations in awake, behaving primates. The training phase will allow me to develop novel approaches for transfecting larges areas with optogenetic constructs and practice targeting deep thalamic structures in the primate brain electrophysiologically. The long-term goal for my research program is to resolve the essential neural circuit that sensory information must pass through in order to become available for perceptually-based decisions. The central hypothesis for this is work is that cortical-thalamic loops are necessary for the subjective experience of sensory inputs, and a fundamental feature of perceptual decision-making. My goal is to apply this circuit-level knowledge of perceptual representations to improve brain function in the disease state or following damage to sensory organs, but also to use this knowledge to improve how we can effectively communicate information to healthy brains.

项目总结 为了指导决策，视觉信息必须从初级视觉皮质(V1)流向前额叶皮质(PFC)，通过 多个平行的皮质-皮质和皮质-丘脑-皮质连接。V1和PFC都有直接 与丘脑的高级核--枕核的联系，但这个核在感觉中的作用 处理过程在很大程度上仍然是个谜。重要的是，许多枕骨在啮齿类动物或 这使得在非人类灵长类动物中研究它变得更加重要。这个项目的目标是 揭示皮质(V1和PFC)和枕骨之间的直接联系如何相互作用和影响视觉 非人灵长类动物的知觉和视觉引导的决定。为了实现这一目标，该项目提出了一个 新方法，利用聚焦超声无创打开血脑屏障，以精确 用于因果、光遗传操作的目标皮质-丘脑投射。目前的证据表明， 枕骨在重新引导视觉注意方面的作用，但它在视觉引导的决策和知觉中的作用 目前还不太清楚。为了直接测试这些皮质-丘脑投射如何影响视觉感知和决策， 当猴子执行具有挑战性的心理物理任务时，这些回路将被光基因激活。我们会 然后能够通过以下方式评估这些电路的单个、细胞类型特定的组件的贡献 测量行为表现的变化和多个大脑区域神经反应的差异。 建议的项目建立在我实施多区域电生理记录和 在清醒的灵长类动物中的光基因操作。培训阶段将使我能够开发新的 光遗传构建体导入大脑区的方法及丘脑深部靶向研究 灵长类动物大脑的电生理学结构。我的研究计划的长期目标是解决 感官信息必须通过的基本神经回路，才能获得 基于感知的决策。研究的中心假设是大脑皮质-丘脑环是必要的。 对于感官输入的主观体验，是知觉决策的一个基本特征。我的 目标是应用这种知觉表征的电路水平知识来改善疾病中的大脑功能 状态或紧随其后的感觉器官受损，还要利用这些知识来改进我们如何有效地 将信息传递给健康的大脑。