An examination of factors affecting the discrimination of heading direction

影响航向辨别的因素研究

• 批准号: RGPIN-2020-05527
• 负责人: Skinner, Darlene
• 金额: $ 2.04万
• 依托单位: Memorial University of Newfoundland
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2022-01-01 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=764286
• 关键词: examination; factors; affecting; discrimination; heading

The first thing a person does when exiting a subway station is to look around and get oriented, because knowing where you are (e.g., at the corner of Main and Pine Streets) does not help you start the next leg of your journey unless you also know your heading. Head direction cells fire when an animal's head is pointed in a particular direction and are thought to underlie this sense of direction or orientation. The importance of orientation has been revealed by its impact on spatial learning, its role in the encoding of memories, and its representation in many neural structures involved in navigation. The fact that head direction cells fire in an adult-like fashion earlier than other types of spatial cells (i.e., place and grid cells) has led to speculation that head direction cells set up the entire spatial network in the mammalian brain. Work in my lab has strengthened the belief that direction learning underlies the solution to many spatial problems previously attributed to place learning. The goal of my research program is to determine what head direction cells contribute to direction learning and spatial navigation. If head direction cells are the neural representation of an animal's sense of direction, then disrupting the flow of information within the head direction cell circuit should disrupt behavioral demonstrations of direction learning. The research outlined in this proposal will examine the effects of permanent lesions and temporary inactivation of select components of the head direction cell circuit in rats on spatial tasks where directional heading is key to problem solution. Additional experiments will examine how factors such as aging and circadian rhythm disruption affect direction learning. A better understanding of the functional significance of head direction cells and their presence in a multitude of brain regions will serve to make models of navigation more complete and advance the field of spatial cognition.

一个人离开地铁站时要做的第一件事是环顾四周并保持定位，因为知道自己的位置（例如，在主街和松街的拐角处），除非您也知道自己的标题，否则您无助于您开始旅程的下一步。当动物的头朝着特定方向指向时，头部方向细胞会发射，并被认为是这种方向或方向的基础。取向的重要性已经通过其对空间学习的影响，其在记忆的编码中的作用以及其在导航中许多神经结构中的表现而揭示了。与其他类型的空间细胞（即位置和网格细胞）相比，头部方向细胞以成人方式发射的事实导致人们猜测头部方向细胞在哺乳动物大脑中建立了整个空间网络。我实验室的工作加强了一种信念，即学习的方向是对以前归因于学习的许多空间问题的解决方案的基础。我的研究计划的目的是确定哪种头部方向细胞有助于方向学习和空间导航。如果头部方向细胞是动物方向意识的神经表示，则破坏在头方向电路中信息流的情况应破坏方向学习的行为演示。该提案中概述的研究将研究大鼠在空间任务上的长期病变和暂时灭活头方向细胞电路的作用，在该空间任务中，方向标题是问题解决方案的关键。其他实验将研究衰老和昼夜节律破坏等因素如何影响方向学习。更好地理解头部方向细胞的功能意义及其在众多大脑区域的存在将使导航模型更加完整，并推进空间认知领域。