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.

项目概要 在脊椎动物中，前庭系统（主要称为大脑的“平衡系统”）解释 头部运动和方向信号为生物体提供自我运动感。至关重要的贡献 前庭系统对姿势、凝视和步态的反射性控制的作用已得到很好的表征；然而，少之又少的是 了解高阶前庭功能的神经基础，例如自我感知 运动和空间方位意识。这些功能依赖于皮质整合 前庭输入具有体感和视觉输入。在非人类灵长类动物中，顶岛前庭 皮层（PIVC）非常适合执行这种多感觉整合。与其他前庭敏感皮质不同 PIVC 可以直接访问来自丘脑的前庭、体感和视觉输入；确实，它是 假设其他前庭皮质区域从 PIVC 接收前庭输入，从而使其成为一个联系 用于高阶前庭功能。尽管它被认为很重要，但人们对它知之甚少 PIVC 整合前庭和前庭外输入的神经机制，以及这种整合是否 是上下文相关的。例如，尚不清楚 PIVC 神经元是否区分前庭输入 在被动运动与主动运动期间产生；这种分化见于前庭核和丘脑 并且被认为对于产生汽车代理感至关重要。为了调查这些问题，我建议 对灵长类动物在被动刺激和 主动产生头部和全身运动。在目标 1 中，我将研究 PIVC 如何被动集成 应用前庭和体感输入（目标 1.1），然后应用前庭和视觉输入（目标 1.2）。在目标 2 中，我 将研究 PIVC 在被动和主动运动期间是否有差异地处理前庭输入。 具体来说，我将研究 PIVC 如何处理自然自我运动（即自我运动）过程中产生的前庭输入。 依赖于转头任务形式的感觉运动输入的运动，目标 2.1）。然后我将检查 PIVC 如何 处理在学习的、认知要求高的运动任务中产生的前庭输入（目标 2.2）。在这两个目标中， 我将确定 PIVC 中的单个神经元如何编码前庭和前庭外输入，以及如何编码 信息是在人口层面上体现的。所提出的实验将解决两个问题 是理解 PIVC 功能的基础： 1) PIVC 如何整合多感官输入来构建 自我运动的感知？ 2) PIVC 神经元对自我运动的处理是否与 提供一种汽车代理感？此外，拟议的实验将确定感觉运动和 自我运动的认知感知在 PIVC 中得到体现。这项研究将为大脑皮层提供新的见解 前庭功能及其如何支持允许灵长类动物（人类和非人类）的高阶过程 人类）成功地感知和导航他们的环境。