Acquisition of an fMRI Basic Research Imaging System at the University of Southern California

在国家科学主要研究仪器奖的支持下，南加州大学的欧文·比德曼教授和他的同事们将购买最先进的三套特斯拉功能磁共振成像(FMRI)系统，用于科学研究人类大脑活动中如何产生认知、情感、知觉、记忆、语言和运动能力。与比德曼教授和他的合作PI Z.-L.Lu、L.Itti、A.Raine和M.Arbib一起使用fMRI系统将成为各种学术单位的成员，包括神经科学计划、心理学、计算机科学、生物、本体论、生物医学工程、运动学、目前，感兴趣的用户社区包括大约30名教师和100多名研究生和博士后。这个校园内的设施不仅将使这些研究计划得以进行，还将为该社区内的成像专业知识的发展提供能力。这块磁铁也将向其他机构的研究人员开放。在过去十年中，探索完整人脑的活动--而不仅仅是结构--的能力一直是神经科学方法论的重大进步之一。该仪器将提供高分辨率的大脑结构图像，但它的主要用途将是在受试者经历各种刺激或执行各种任务时评估大脑的功能，同时系统测量特定大脑部位的神经活动，以几毫米的数量级。在该系统安装后将启动的首批研究项目中，有一个专注于前额叶皮质已知的调节约束的区域，以及评价自己的行为对有或没有冲动性暴力倾向的个人的后果。其他研究的目的是为了理解一个以前从未被感知过的场景的图像是如何在一小段时间内被理解的。另一项研究将评估大脑在调节理解的区域产生的鸦片是否能提供与新奇但可解释的体验相关的知觉和认知愉悦。另一项研究的动机是，猴子皮质中参与某些运动(如抓握)产生的神经元，在猴子看到另一个有机体的抓握时也会被激发。这项研究将评估这种“镜像”神经元是否可能是语言进化的基础的核心模仿能力。另一项调查将集中在“情节记忆”--我们生活中的精神日记--是在哪里以及如何在大脑中产生和存储的。磁铁的操作计划将设在达纳和大卫·多恩西夫认知神经科学成像中心，将包括旨在为本科生和研究生提供实践培训和研究体验的教学课程。特别外展计划旨在让来自当地社区的合格高中生参与进来，作为努力的一部分，为未被充分代表的少数群体提供机会，使他们成为下一代科学家之一，促进我们对认知和行为神经科学的了解。

With support from a National Science Major Research Instrumentation Award, Professor Irving Biederman and his colleagues at the University of Southern California will purchase a state of the art three Tesla functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) system for the scientific investigation of how cognitive, emotional, perceptual, memory, linguistic, and motor capacities emerge from activity of the human brain.Joining Professor Biederman and his Co-PIs Z.-L. Lu, L. Itti, A. Raine, and M. Arbib as users of the fMRI system will be members of a variety of academic units including the Neuroscience Program, the Departments of Psychology, Computer Science, Biology, Gerontology, Biomedical Engineering, Kinesiology, Electrical Engineering, and the House Ear Institute, Currently the community of interested users includes approximately 30 faculty and over 100 graduate and post-doctoral students. This on-campus facility will not only allow these research programs to proceed but will provide the capability for the development of imaging expertise within this community. The magnet will be available to researchers from other institutions as well. The ability to probe the activity-not just the structure-of the intact human brain has been one of the great methodological advances of neuroscience in the past decade. The instrument will provide high-resolution images of brain structures but its primary use will be to assess functioning of the brain as subjects experience various stimuli or perform various tasks while the system measures neural activity at specific brain loci in the order of a few millimeters. Among the first of the research projects that will be launched once the system is installed is one focusing on regions of the prefrontal cortex known to modulate restraint and an appreciation of the consequences of one's own actions for individuals with and without a propensity for impulsive violence. Other studies are designed to understand how an image of a scene, never perceived previously, could be comprehended in a fraction of a section. Another will assess whether brain-produced opiates in areas that mediate comprehension provide the perceptual and cognitive pleasure associated with novel but interpretable experiences. Another study is motivated by the finding that neurons in monkey cortex involved in the production of certain motor movements, such as grasping, also fire when the monkey views the grasp of another organism. This research will evaluate whether such "mirror" neurons might be the core imitative capacity fundamental to the evolution of language. Still another investigation will focus on where and how "episodic memory"-the mental diaries of our lives-are produced and stored in the brain.Plans for the operation of the magnet, to be housed in the Dana and David Dornsife Cognitive Neuroscience Imaging Center, will include instructional courses designed to give hands-on training and research experience to undergraduate as well as graduate students. Special outreach programs are designed to involve qualified high school students from the local community as part of an effort to provide opportunities for underrepresented minorities to be counted among the next generation of scientists advancing our knowledge of cognitive and behavioral neuroscience.