Multisensory integration and self-motion perception in primate vestibular cortex

灵长类动物前庭皮层的多感觉整合和自我运动感知

• 批准号: 10753017
• 负责人: Alejandra Gomez
• 金额: $ 7.37万
• 依托单位: JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-08-16 至 2025-08-15
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10753017
• 关键词: Animals; Area; Auditory; Automobile Driving; Awareness; Behavior; Behavioral; Body part; Brain; Cells; Clinical; Cognitive; Cutaneous; Environment; Equilibrium; Ethology; Functional disorder; Gait; Goals; Head; Head Movements; Human; Impairment; Individual; Injury; Insula of Reil; Learning; Lesion; Modality; Modeling; Motion; Motion Perception; Motor; Movement; Musculoskeletal Equilibrium; Neuronal Differentiation; Neurons; Organism; Outcome; Parietal Lobe; Patients; Perception; Physicians; Play; Population; Posture; Primates; Process; Reporting; Research; Role; Scheme; Self Perception; Sensory; Signal Transduction; Skeletal muscle structure of neck; Space Perception; Stimulus; Stream; System; Tactile; Testing; Thalamic Nuclei; Thalamic structure; Vertebrates; Vestibular nucleus structure; Visual; clinically relevant; cognitive function; cognitive process; density; experience; experimental study; extracellular; gaze; imaging study; improved; insight; multimodality; multisensory; neural; neuromechanism; neurophysiology; nonhuman primate; response; sensory input; sensory integration; somatosensory; way finding

Project Summary In vertebrate animals, the vestibular system (primarily known as the “balance system” of the brain) interprets head-movement and orientation signals to provide organisms with a sense of self-motion. The vital contribution of vestibular system to reflexive control of posture, gaze, and gait is well characterized; however, far less is known about the neural substrates underlying higher-order vestibular functions, such as the perception of self- motion and the awareness of one's orientation in space. These functions rely on the cortical integration of vestibular input with somatosensory and visual input. In non-human primates, the parieto-insular vestibular cortex (PIVC) is uniquely suited to perform this multisensory integration. Unlike other vestibular-sensitive cortical areas, PIVC has direct access to vestibular, somatosensory, and visual input from the thalamus; indeed, it is hypothesized that other vestibular cortical areas receive their vestibular input from PIVC, thus making it a nexus for higher-order vestibular function. Despite its hypothesized importance, extremely little is known about the neural mechanisms by which PIVC integrates vestibular and extra-vestibular input, and whether this integration is context dependent. For example, it is unclear whether PIVC neurons differentiate between vestibular input generated during passive vs. active movements; such differentiation is seen in the vestibular nuclei and thalamus and is thought to be essential for producing a sense of motor agency. To investigate these issues, I propose to conduct high-density neurophysiological recordings in behaving primates during both passive stimulation and actively generated head and whole-body movement. In Aim 1, I will investigate how PIVC integrates passively applied vestibular and somatosensory input (Aim 1.1) and then vestibular and visual input (Aim 1.2). In Aim 2, I will investigate whether PIVC differentially processes vestibular input during passive and active movement. Specifically, I will examine how PIVC processes vestibular input generated during natural self-motion (i.e., self- motion relying on sensorimotor input in the form of a head-turning task, Aim 2.1). I will then examine how PIVC processes vestibular input generated during a learned, cognitively demanding motor task (Aim 2.2). In both aims, I will determine how individual neurons in PIVC encode vestibular and extra-vestibular input, as well as how this information is represented at the population level. The proposed experiments will resolve two questions which are fundamental to understanding PIVC function: 1) How does PIVC integrate multisensory input to construct a percept of self-motion? and 2) Is the processing of self-motion by PIVC neurons consistent with that required to provide a sense of motor agency? Furthermore, the proposed experiments will determine how sensorimotor and cognitive percepts of self-motion are represented in PIVC. This research will provide new insights into cortical vestibular function and how it supports the higher-order processes that allow primates (both human and non- human) to successfully perceive and navigate their environments.

项目摘要 在脊椎动物中，前庭系统（主要被称为大脑的“平衡系统”） 头部运动和方向信号，为生物体提供自我运动的感觉。的重要贡献 前庭系统对姿势、凝视和步态的反射性控制的特征很好;然而， 关于高级前庭功能的神经基质，如自我感知， 运动和对空间方位的意识。这些功能依赖于大脑皮层整合 前庭输入与躯体感觉和视觉输入。在非人类灵长类动物中，顶岛前庭 皮层（PIVC）是唯一适合执行这种多感觉整合。不像其他前庭敏感皮层 PIVC可以直接进入前庭，体感和来自丘脑的视觉输入;事实上，它是 假设其他前庭皮质区从PIVC接收前庭输入，从而使其成为一个连接 更高级的前庭功能。尽管其假设的重要性，很少有人知道 PIVC整合前庭和前庭外输入的神经机制，以及这种整合 是上下文相关的。例如，目前尚不清楚PIVC神经元是否区分前庭输入， 在被动与主动运动期间产生;这种分化见于前庭核和丘脑 并且被认为是产生运动代理感所必需的。为了研究这些问题，我建议 进行高密度神经生理记录行为灵长类动物在被动刺激和 主动产生的头部和全身运动。在目标1中，我将研究PIVC如何被动地集成 应用前庭和躯体感觉输入（目标1.1），然后是前庭和视觉输入（目标1.2）。在目标2中，我 将研究PIVC是否在被动和主动运动期间差异处理前庭输入。 具体来说，我将研究PIVC如何处理自然自我运动过程中产生的前庭输入（即，自 以转头任务的形式依赖于感觉运动输入的运动，目标2.1）。然后我将研究如何PIVC 处理在学习过程中产生的前庭输入，认知要求运动任务（目标2.2）。在这两个目标中， 我将确定PIVC中的单个神经元是如何编码前庭和前庭外输入的， 信息是在人口一级提供的。拟议的实验将解决两个问题， 是理解PIVC功能的基础：1）PIVC如何整合多感觉输入以构建一个 自我运动的能力？2）PIVC神经元对自我运动的处理是否与 提供一种运动代理的感觉？此外，所提出的实验将确定感觉运动和 自我运动的认知感知在PIVC中表示。这项研究将提供新的见解， 前庭功能，以及它如何支持高阶过程，使灵长类动物（包括人类和非人类）， 人类）成功地感知和导航他们的环境。