Visual Target Selection for Saccadic Eye Movements

描述（由申请人提供）：认知神经科学中一个主要且非常重要的开放问题是：决策是如何以及在哪里做出的？基于使用运动辨别任务的实验工作，人们认为感知决策在控制动作产生的大脑视觉运动区域内进化。在大脑的哪个地方，决策是基于形式计算的？从研究动作决策中收集的原则是否适用于基于形式的决策？记忆（由内侧颞叶系统介导）如何与感知相互作用来指导选择？我们从四个方面来解决这些问题。在目标1中，我们将确定受试者在依赖形式信息的新型感知决策任务中的表现准确性和敏感性。我们将测试这一假设，即受试者在基于形式的感知决策任务中表现出决策到约束过程的证据。在Aim 2中，我们将确定V4层外皮层在玻璃图案感知中的作用，以及在依赖于形式辨别的新型感知决策任务中的作用。在基于形式的感知任务中，我们将采用与运动感知中MT神经元活动相同的方式来确定层外皮质区V4的神经元活动与行为表现之间的关系。在第3部分，我们将确定上丘在基于形式的知觉决策中的作用；在第4部分，我们将确定基底神经节是否在将记忆信息传递给运动电路以指导在感觉不确定性条件下基于形式的决策中发挥作用。我们的实验结果将为大脑视觉区域的决策处理提供新的线索，并可能为理解在许多涉及基底神经节的神经和神经精神疾病中看到的神秘症状提供框架。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): A major open - and very important question in cognitive neuroscience is: how and where are decisions made? Based on experimental work using a motion discrimination task, it is thought that perceptual decisions evolve within visuomotor regions of the brain controlling the generation of action. Where in the brain are decisions based on form computed? Are the principles gleaned from studying motion decisions applicable to form-based decisions? How do memories (mediated by the medial temporal lobe system) interact with perceptions to guide choices? We address these questions in four aims. In Aim 1, we will determine performance accuracy and sensitivity of subjects in novel perceptual decision-making tasks that rely on form information. We will test the hypothesis that subjects show evidence of a decision-to-bound process in the performance of a form-based, perceptual decision-making task. In Aim 2, we will determine the role of V4 extrastriate cortex in the perception of Glass patterns and in a novel perceptual decision-making task that relies on form discrimination. We will determine the relationship between neuronal activity in extrastriate cortical area V4 and behavioral performance in a form-based perceptual task in the same way that MT neuronal activity was characterized for motion perception. By building on our previous work, in Aim 3, we will determine the role of the superior colliculus in form-based perceptual decision-making and in Aim 4, we will determine whether the basal ganglia play a role in conveying memory information to motor circuits to guide form-based decisions under conditions of sensory uncertainty. The results of our experiments will shed new light on decision-making processing in visual areas of the brain and may provide a framework for understanding enigmatic symptoms seen in a number of neurological and neuropsychiatric diseases involving the basal ganglia.