Visual/Spatial Properties of Posterior Parietal Neurons

描述(由申请人提供)：本竞争性修订是针对NOT-OD-09-058通知提交的：NIH宣布可为竞争性修订申请提供恢复法案资金。这项申请扩大了母基金“顶后神经元的视觉/空间特性”的范围和方法，包括两个额外的研究目标。目前关于眼手协调和运动计划选择的神经机制的大部分知识都来自于非人类灵长类动物的电生理记录，最近还来自于人类的fMRI实验。为了能够整合这些发现，有必要用相同的方法研究这两个物种，特别是因为这两种技术的结果并不总是导致相同的结论。目前的拨款修订旨在阐明猴子和人类在额顶网络中手和眼信号重叠程度的研究之间的差异。具体地说，我们将通过应用与事件相关的功能磁共振成像来研究猴子在空间目标位置(即左对右)或不同效应器(即眼睛对手)之间进行选择时，空间和效应器选择在猴子大脑中是如何表现的。此外，我们将通过研究来自内部或外部因素的空间选择偏好如何代表大脑的不同区域来扩展正在进行的神经生理学实验。这一修订符合《复苏法案》的目标。这将需要保留一名现有的高级博士后员工，聘请一名新的博士后，一名新的技术员，以及一名新的兼职射频工程师。该公司将通过从国内公司购买先进的磁共振兼容设备，投资于扩大项目目标所必需的新技术。 公共卫生相关性：拟议的研究结果可用于帮助因中风和创伤性脑损伤而遭受额叶和顶叶皮质损伤的患者设计疗法。在猴子身上应用功能成像，就像常规在人类患者和健康受试者身上所做的那样，将有助于了解神经疾病引起的正常皮质功能和缺陷，并可以指导这些疾病的诊断和治疗。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This Competitive Revision is submitted in response to the notice NOT-OD-09-058: NIH Announces the Availability of Recovery Act Funds for Competitive Revision Applications. This application expands the scope and the methodology of the parent grant "Visual/Spatial Properties of Posterior Parietal Neurons" to include two additional research aims. Most of the current knowledge about neural mechanisms underlying eye-hand coordination and selection of movement plans has been derived from electrophysiological recordings in non-human primates, and more recently from fMRI experiments in humans. In order to be able to integrate those findings, it is necessary to study both species by means of the same method, especially because results from the two techniques have not always led to the same conclusions. The current grant revision aims to elucidate the discrepancy between monkey and human studies concerning the degree of overlap between hand and eye signals within the frontoparietal network. Specifically, we will investigate how spatial and effector choices are represented in the monkey brain by applying event-related fMRI while monkeys are choosing either between spatial target positions (i.e. left vs. right) or between different effectors (i.e. eye vs. hand). In addition, we will expand ongoing neurophysiological experiments by investigating how spatial choice preferences originating either from internal or external factors are represented by different areas in the brain. This revision adheres to the goals of the Recovery Act. It will entail retaining a current senior postdoc employee, hiring a new postdoc, a new technician, and a new part-time RF engineer. It will invest in the new technology essential to expand the goals of the project, by acquiring advanced MR-compatible equipment from domestic companies. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The results of the proposed studies can be used to help design therapies for patients suffering from damage to frontal and parietal cortex from strokes and traumatic brain injuries. Application of functional imaging in monkeys, as routinely is done in human patients and healthy subjects, will facilitate the understanding of normal cortical functions and deficits that result from neurological diseases, and can guide the diagnoses and treatments for these diseases