The Neural Mechanisms Underlying Categorical Decision Making

分类决策背后的神经机制

• 批准号: 10750000
• 负责人: Noah Steinberg
• 金额: $ 3.5万
• 依托单位: GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-07-01 至 2027-06-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10750000
• 关键词: Academic Medical Centers; Address; Affect; Alzheimer' s Disease; Animals; Anterior; Area; Behavior; Behavioral; Brain; Categories; Cognition; Cognitive; Computer Models; Dangerousness; Data; Data Collection; Decision Making; Dementia; Detection; Diffusion; Disease; Dorsal; Early identification; Electrocorticogram; Electrodes; Environment; Epilepsy; Episodic memory; Feedback; Goals; Health; Human; Image; Impaired cognition; Implanted Electrodes; Investigation; Knowledge; Lead; Learning; Link; Literature; Medial; Mediating; Memory; Mentorship; Methods; Microelectrodes; Modeling; Monitor; Monkeys; Motor; Movement; Mus; Nervous System Trauma; Neurologist; Neurons; Neurosciences; Participant; Pathway interactions; Population; Prefrontal Cortex; Process; Reaction; Research; Research Personnel; Research Project Grants; Resolution; Resources; Role; Seizures; Semantic Dementias; Semantic memory; Semantics; Sensory; Signal Transduction; Statistical Data Interpretation; Stimulus; Stream; Stroke; System; Task Performances; Techniques; Technology; Temporal Lobe; Testing; Time; Training; Visual; Visual Pathways; Visual System; Work; area MT; brain computer interface; cognitive control; cognitive process; cognitive system; comparative; executive function; experience; extracellular; forest; improved; insight; lateral intraparietal area; member; millisecond; nervous system disorder; neural; neural correlate; neuroimaging; neuromechanism; neurotransmission; object recognition; recruit; spatiotemporal; visual information; visual stimulus

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT When we are confronted with unclear or vague information about our world, we rely heavily on memory to fill in missing data and ultimately guide behaviors. For example, if you encounter a massive four-legged animal alongside its cub while hiking in a forest, your subsequent actions rely not merely on identifying the animal, but reacting appropriately once you remember that bears are dangerous. What mechanisms in the brain are responsible for recognizing, identifying, and categorizing objects, all of which can occur within hundreds of milliseconds? This question is inherently linked to the semantic memory system, which acts as the interface between incoming sensory information and our preexisting knowledge of the meaning of words, images, concepts, and their associations. The primary goal of the proposed research is to better understand the temporal dynamics of how semantic categorization occurs in the human brain. One method to study semantic categorization is by framing it as a decision that occurs in the brain. Research on decision-making across several species (e.g., mice, monkeys, and humans) has shown that decision-making requires a specific computation where evidence is accumulated until a particular threshold is met, indicating a decision has been reached. This framework (drift-diffusion models, DDMs) has helped to uncover several decision-making signals across the brain depending on the task, leading researchers to believe DDMs could be a brain-general mechanism. For this to be true, DDMs should be able to explain activity in the human ventral visual stream during object recognition tasks. The first aim of this study is to identify where in the human ventral visual stream can best be described by decision-making signals. The main hypothesis is that during a semantic categorization task, decision-making signals should occur in the anterior temporal lobe (ATL), which has been implicated in recent decades as the brain’s semantic hub. The second aim of this study is to examine how the brain categorizes (e.g., blurred, occluded) visual stimuli. On a behavioral level, humans require more time to perform object recognition when images are less clear. One possible explanatory neural mechanism would involve the same neural processes as unambiguous visual recognition that just occurs more slowly. A contrasting hypothesis is that additional brain areas must be recruited to solve ambiguity. For instance, accessing stored memories via the medial temporal lobe (MTL) may be enlisted to call upon previous experiences. Another option relies on a greater degree of cognitive control from the prefrontal cortex (PFC). This research project will leverage the spatiotemporal precision offered by intracranial recordings in humans. This study can illuminate cognitive systems and brain networks that are often damaged in diseases affecting memory, including Alzheimer’s Disease and Semantic Dementia.

项目摘要/摘要 当我们面对关于我们世界的不清楚或模糊的信息时，我们严重依赖记忆， 填补缺失的数据并最终指导行为。例如，如果你遇到一个巨大的四足动物 在森林中徒步旅行时，你的后续行动不仅取决于识别动物， 一旦你意识到熊是危险的，你就会做出适当的反应。大脑中的哪些机制 负责识别，识别和分类对象，所有这些都可以发生在数百个 毫秒？这个问题与语义记忆系统有着内在的联系，语义记忆系统充当着界面的角色。 在传入的感官信息和我们先前对词语，图像， 概念及其关联。拟议研究的主要目标是更好地了解 语义分类在人脑中发生的时间动态。 研究语义分类的一种方法是将其框定为大脑中发生的决定。 研究跨几个物种的决策（例如，小鼠、猴子和人类）已经表明， 决策需要一个特定的计算，其中积累证据，直到一个特定的阈值， 这意味着已经做出了决定。这一框架（漂移-扩散模型）有助于 根据任务的不同，揭示了大脑中的几个决策信号，这使得研究人员 相信DDMs可能是一种大脑机制。要做到这一点，DDM应该能够解释活动 在人类腹侧视觉流在物体识别任务。本研究的第一个目的是确定 在人类腹侧视觉流中，决策信号可以最好地描述。主要 一个假设是，在语义分类任务中，决策信号应该发生在前 颞叶（ATL），近几十年来一直被认为是大脑的语义中枢。 这项研究的第二个目的是研究大脑如何分类（例如，模糊，闭塞）视觉 刺激。在行为层面上，当图像较少时，人类需要更多的时间来进行物体识别。 清楚一个可能的解释性神经机制将涉及与明确的神经过程相同的神经过程。 视觉识别的速度更慢。另一个相反的假设是，额外的大脑区域必须是 被招募来解决歧义例如，经由内侧颞叶（MTL）访问存储的记忆可以 被招募来调用以前的经验。另一种选择依赖于更大程度的认知控制 来自前额叶皮质（PFC）。该研究项目将利用 人类颅内记录。这项研究可以阐明认知系统和大脑网络， 在影响记忆力的疾病中经常受损，包括阿尔茨海默病和语义性痴呆。