Exploring the content of human medial temporal lobe representations and their contributions to cognition

探索人类内侧颞叶表征的内容及其对认知的贡献

• 批准号: RGPIN-2018-04844
• 负责人: Lee, Andy
• 金额: $ 2.91万
• 依托单位: University of Toronto
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2020-01-01 至 2021-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=712425
• 关键词: Exploring; content; human; medial; temporal

Memory is a central part of everyday life and plays a critical role in shaping our personal identity. It is an essential goal of neuroscience, therefore, to understand how the brain processes memories and why our memories can fail. One long-standing theory is that a group of brain structures, collectively named the medial temporal lobe (MTL), are responsible for processing long-term memory only, effectively serving as a dedicated long-term memory system'. Recent research has, however, challenged this idea, and demonstrated that, in some circumstances, the MTL is also involved in other cognitive domains, including perception, short-term memory, imagination, and decision-making. The current research proposal aims to take account of these findings and develop a theoretical framework by which the MTL's seemingly wide range of functions can be understood. Specifically, this work will build on a representational view of the MTL, which suggests that it is best to understand the MTL according to the type of information that it represents rather than the type of processes that it is responsible for. One suggestion is that different MTL structures are responsible for representing different types of information such as spatial scenes and objects, and that these representations are called upon whenever we make use of this information, irrespective of the cognitive process such as memory, perception, or imagination. Using a combination of behavioural and functional neuroimaging studies in neurologically healthy participants and individuals with memory problems due to MTL damage, this proposal will develop the representational view by: (1) Providing new insight into the content of MTL representations what object and scene information is contained in MTL representations and can we examine what these representations look like?; (2) Revealing how MTL representations contribute to memory, in particular, their role in resolving memory interference how do MTL representations help us to differentiate similar memories?; (3) Understanding how information about time is incorporated into MTL representations how do MTL representations enable us to remember when and for how long a past event happened?; and finally (4) Shedding light on the role of MTL representations in imagination how do MTL representations contribute to our imagination? The findings from this work will revise traditional conceptions of what the MTL does and in doing so, change our understanding of memory processing in the brain, and the interaction between memory and other cognitive processes. This knowledge will have an impact on research that is interested in the relationship between the brain and cognition in Canada and internationally, and in the long-term, may also speak to medical conditions in which memory impairment is a symptom.

记忆是日常生活的核心部分，在塑造我们的个人身份方面发挥着至关重要的作用。因此，了解大脑如何处理记忆以及我们的记忆为何会失效是神经科学的一个基本目标。一个长期存在的理论是，一组统称为内​​侧颞叶（MTL）的大脑结构仅负责处理长期记忆，有效地充当专用的长期记忆系统。然而，最近的研究对这一观点提出了挑战，并证明在某些情况下，MTL 还涉及其他认知领域，包括感知、短期记忆、想象力和决策。当前的研究计划旨在考虑这些发现并开发一个理论框架，通过该框架可以理解 MTL 看似广泛的功能。具体来说，这项工作将建立在 MTL 的代表性视图之上，这表明最好根据 MTL 所表示的信息类型而不是它所负责的流程类型来理解 MTL。一种建议是，不同的 MTL 结构负责表示不同类型的信息，例如空间场景和物体，并且每当我们使用这些信息时都会调用这些表示，而不管记忆、感知或想象等认知过程如何。通过对神经健康参与者和因 MTL 损伤而出现记忆问题的个体进行行为和功能神经影像学研究相结合，该提案将通过以下方式开发表征视图：（1）为 MTL 表征的内容提供新的见解，MTL 表征中包含哪些对象和场景信息，我们是否可以检查这些表征是什么样子？ （2）揭示MTL表征如何对记忆做出贡献，特别是它们在解决记忆干扰中的作用MTL表征如何帮助我们区分相似的记忆？ (3) 了解有关时间的信息如何融入 MTL 表征中，MTL 表征如何使我们能够记住过去事件发生的时间和持续时间？最后（4）阐明 MTL 表征在想象力中的作用 MTL 表征如何为我们的想象力做出贡献？这项工作的发现将修正关于 MTL 功能的传统概念，从而改变我们对大脑记忆处理以及记忆与其他认知过程之间相互作用的理解。这些知识将对加拿大和国际上对大脑与认知之间的关系感兴趣的研究产生影响，从长远来看，也可能涉及以记忆障碍为症状的医疗状况。