Identifying selective visual attention mechanisms through high-dimensional analysis.

 描述(申请人提供)：视觉世界包含的信息比大脑所能处理的要多。幸运的是，我们有一些能力通过选择性注意机制来影响哪些信息源获得优先处理，这一能力对日常生活至关重要。虽然许多研究都集中在注意力对信息的影响上 在加工过程中，关于注意力状态是如何建立的，人们仍然知之甚少。这是因为在单个神经元水平上的注意准备的明显效果尚未显现。最近，运动准备与活动模式有关，这些活动模式可以通过分析数十个神经元来识别。然而，这样的“高维”分析并未应用于感觉脑区，我们推断，类似的方法可能会克服在解释感觉皮层注意力准备方面取得进展的障碍。本研究项目的目标是将高维分析应用于感觉皮层的神经元活动，以表征注意状态是如何建立的。我们已经制定了一项仔细滴定的研究战略，将通过三个系统和具体的目标来实现这一总体目标。我们将从识别视觉皮层中与注意力和注意力不集中相关的活动模式开始，在注意空间位置和注意视觉特征的背景下都是如此。然后，我们将通过分析从视觉皮质和额叶皮质记录的神经元活动来增加一层复杂性，这是注意力控制信号的假定来源，以确定驱动这些预备注意状态的过程。最后，为了测试前两个目标所确定的神经元相关性的因果性质，我们将在额叶皮质进行微刺激，以努力模仿神经。 以及注意准备的行为效应。由于这是一个职业发展奖，该项目的另一个主要目标是对Adam C.Snyder博士进行高维分析方法(在卡内基梅隆大学的Byron Yu博士的指导下)和实验技术(在匹兹堡大学的Matthew Smith博士的指导下)的培训，以及在他作为独立科学家的整个职业生涯中所需的专业实践方面的培训。在这个项目结束时，斯奈德博士将接受一流的高维分析培训 灵长类电生理学的数据集和实践，巩固了他作为一名创新和成功的神经科学家的基础。从科学的角度来看，我们将开发出一种新的注意力准备模式，它将克服注意力研究取得进展的长期障碍。这一进展不仅有利于注意力研究本身，还将为未来研究其他大脑过程提供一个框架，这些过程涉及感觉处理的反馈调节，如学习和记忆。对健康个体注意力功能的了解对于指导涉及注意力缺陷的疾病的潜在治疗干预至关重要，这些疾病包括自闭症、精神分裂症和注意缺陷障碍。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The visual world contains more information than the brain can process. Fortunately, we have some ability to influence which sources of information receive processing priority through the mechanism of selective attention, and this ability is critical for daily life. While much research has focused on the effects of attention on information processing, relatively little remains known about how attention states are established. This is because clear effects of attention preparation at the level of single neurons have not been forthcoming. Recently, movement preparation has been linked to activity patterns that can be identified by analyzing dozens of neurons together. Such `high-dimensional' analyses have not been applied to sensory brain areas however, and we reasoned that a similar approach may overcome the barriers to progress in explaining attention preparation in sensory cortex. The goal of this research project is to apply high-dimensional analyses to the neuronal activity in sensory cortex in order to characterize how attention states are established. We have developed a carefully titrated research strategy that will achieve this overarching goal through three systematic and specific aims. We will begin by identifying the activity patterns in visual cortex that correlate with attention and inattention, both in the context of attention to spatial locations and in the context of attention to visual features. We will then add a layer of complexit by analyzing neuronal activity recorded from both visual cortex and frontal cortex -a presumed source of attention control signals -to identify the processes that drive these preparatory attention states. Finally, to test the causal nature of the neuronal correlates identified by the preceding two aims, we will use microstimulation in frontal cortex in an effort to mimic the neural and behavioral effects of attentional preparation. Since this is a career development award, another major goal of this project is the training of Dr. Adam C. Snyder in the high-dimensional analysis methods (under the mentorship of Dr. Byron Yu of Carnegie Mellon University) and experimental techniques (under the mentorship of Dr. Matthew Smith of the University of Pittsburgh) required for the achievement of the research aims, as well as the professional practices that will be needed throughout his career as an independent scientist. At the end of this project, Dr. Snyder will have received first-rate training in the analysis of high-dimensional datasets and practices of primate electrophysiology, strengthening his foundation as an innovative and successful neuroscientist. From a scientific perspective, we will have developed a new model of attention preparation that will overcome a long-standing barrier to progress in attention research. This advancement will not only benefit attention research itself, but will provide a framework for future investigations of other brain processes that involve feedback modulation of sensory processing, such as learning and memory. An understanding of the functioning of attention in health individuals is essential to guide potential therapeutic interventions in disorders involving deficits in attention, including autism, schizophrenia and attention deficit disorder.