Non-sensory Circuits for Auditory Perceptual Learning

用于听觉感知学习的非感觉回路

• 批准号: 10563542
• 负责人: Melissa Lynne Caras
• 金额: $ 50.02万
• 依托单位: UNIV OF MARYLAND, COLLEGE PARK
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-01-01 至 2027-12-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10563542
• 关键词: Anesthesia procedures; Animal Testing; Animals; Arousal; Attention; Auditory; Auditory area; Auditory system; Behavioral; Brain; Brain region; Calcium; Clinical; Cochlear Implants; Cues; Data; Detection; Devices; Dyslexia; Electrodes; Electrophysiology (science); Fiber; Frequencies; Gerbils; Goals; Hearing Aids; Impairment; Individual; Language; Measures; Mediating; Methods; Monitor; Music; Neurobiology; Neurodevelopmental Disorder; Neurons; Noise; Pathway interactions; Perception; Perceptual learning; Photometry; Population; Prefrontal Cortex; Presbycusis; Process; Psychometrics; Rewards; Role; Sensory Thresholds; Shapes; Signal Transduction; Speech; Speech Development; Speech Perception; Stimulus; Testing; Time; Training; Viral; Work; autism spectrum disorder; calcium indicator; design; expectation; experimental study; hearing impairment; improved; in vivo; model organism; neural; neural circuit; neuromechanism; non-Native; optogenetics; pharmacologic; presynaptic; response; sensory cortex; skills; sound; sound frequency; speech recognition; therapy design; tool

PROJECT SUMMARY Training can sharpen and refine our perceptual skills. In the auditory system, this process— termed perceptual learning— shapes the acquisition of both native and non-native languages, and can improve speech and music recognition in users of assisted listening devices. Previous work has highlighted important contributions of non-sensory processes (such as attention and reward) to perceptual learning, but the underlying neural circuit mechanisms remain poorly understood. Recent evidence suggests the involvement of the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), a prefrontal cortical region implicated in signaling reward and expectation, and in exerting top-down control of sensory cortical processing. This project will explore the contribution of the OFC to auditory perceptual learning in a classic model organism for auditory studies, the Mongolian gerbil. Our overarching hypothesis, informed by previous and ongoing work, is that training on an auditory task strengthens a descending projection from the OFC to the auditory cortex, leading to gradual improvements in auditory cortical sensitivity that underlie perceptual learning. We propose three specific aims to test this hypothesis. In Aim 1, we use multichannel electrophysiology and pathway-specific fiber photometry to determine whether training on an auditory task strengthens a descending projection from the OFC to auditory cortex by increasing presynaptic activity. In Aim 2, we combine pharmacological and optogenetic methods to determine whether the OFC modulates auditory cortical processing and/or perception in behaving animals via a descending monosynaptic projection, and reveal whether this capability is enhanced after perceptual learning. Finally, in Aim 3 we determine whether optogenetic activation of auditory cortical-projecting neurons in the OFC is sufficient for improving auditory cortical and perceptual sensitivity in behaving animals in the absence of training. In summary, our experiments combine a powerful array of in vivo tools to dissect the neural circuit mechanisms that support auditory perceptual learning. The importance of perceptual learning for improving auditory skills in hearing impaired listeners, and the disruption of perceptual learning in individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders, like dyslexia and autism, highlight an urgent need for a more complete description of how perceptual learning is implemented in the brain.

项目总结 训练可以磨砺和提炼我们的感知技能。在听觉系统中，这个过程被称为 知觉学习-塑造母语和非母语的习得，并可以提高 辅助收听设备用户的语音和音乐识别。以前的工作强调了重要的 非感官过程(如注意力和奖励)对知觉学习的贡献，但 潜在的神经回路机制仍然知之甚少。最近的证据表明， 眼眶前额叶皮质(OFC)，这是一个前额叶皮质区域，涉及信号奖励和期望，以及 对感觉皮质加工进行自上而下的控制。本项目将探讨OFC的贡献 听觉研究的经典模式生物蒙古沙鼠的听觉知觉学习。我们的 从先前和正在进行的研究中得出的最重要的假设是，对听觉任务的训练 加强从OFC到听觉皮质的下行投射，导致逐渐改善 作为知觉学习基础的听觉皮质敏感性。我们提出了三个具体目标来测试这一点 假设。在目标1中，我们使用多通道电生理学和路径特定的光纤光度法来 确定听觉任务的训练是否加强了从OFC到听觉的下行投射 通过增加突触前活动来调节大脑皮层。在目标2中，我们结合了药理学和光遗传学方法来 确定OFC是否通过调节行为动物的听觉皮质处理和/或知觉 一种下降的单突触投射，并揭示这种能力在知觉后是否增强 学习。最后，在目标3中，我们确定了听觉皮质投射神经元的光遗传激活 在OFC中，足以改善在OFC中表现动物的听觉、皮质和知觉敏感性 没有接受训练。总而言之，我们的实验结合了一系列强大的活体工具来解剖 支持听觉知觉学习的神经回路机制。感性认识学习的重要性 改善听力受损的听者的听觉技能，以及个体知觉学习的中断 神经发育障碍，如诵读困难和自闭症，突出了对更完整的 描述知觉学习是如何在大脑中实现的。