CAREER: Characterizing Neural Mechanisms of State Estimation in the Posterior Parietal Cortex

这个项目的目的是了解大脑如何结合不同形式的感觉信息，以帮助计划和修改我们的动作。关于世界上物体当前状态的信息(即它们的位置和速度)通过我们的感官传递到大脑，而感官使用非常不同的“语言”来描述这种状态。例如，我们的眼睛提供关于我们周围苍蝇相对于我们当前观看位置的视觉运动的信息，而我们的耳朵传递补充信息，即苍蝇拍打翅膀产生的相对于我们头部的嗡嗡声。类似地，如果我们想要伸手击打这种苍蝇，大脑必须将来自我们眼睛的信息与来自移动的手臂的信息结合起来，而移动的手臂说的是另一种语言。显然，需要某种“解释器”来让感官协同工作来解决这项任务。目前认为后顶叶皮质(PPC)可能起到这一作用，但确切地说这是如何完成的还不清楚。该项目旨在利用电生理记录技术结合基于虚拟现实的行为范式，了解PPC在感知手臂状态中的作用。该项目还包括在高中阶段开发一门新的生物技术课程，该课程将纳入与系统神经科学和神经工程相关的概念和技术，这些概念和技术目前在高中水平的生物技术课程中没有得到重视或根本没有强调。生物工程专业的研究生和本科生将帮助开发和教授课程的各个组成部分，精选出来的高中生将有机会参加暑期研究实习。这将为准备充分的生物技术学生从高中到大学到研究生院/行业的持续管道奠定基础。

This project is aimed at understanding how the brain combines different forms of sensory information in order to help plan and modify our movements. Information about the current state of objects in the world (i.e. their position and velocity) is transmitted to the brain by our senses, which describe this state using very different "languages". For example, our eyes provide information about the visual motion of a fly buzzing around us with respect to where we are currently looking, while our ears relay complementary information, the buzzing sound generated by the flapping of the fly's wings, with respect to our heads. Similarly, if we want to reach out and swat this fly, the brain must combine information from our eyes with information from the moving arm, which speaks yet another language altogether. Clearly some sort of "interpreter" is required to allow the senses to work together to solve this task. It is currently believed that the posterior parietal cortex (PPC) may serve this role, but precisely how this is accomplished is unclear. This project is aimed at understanding the role of the PPC in the perception of arm state, using electrophysiological recording techniques combined with a virtual reality based behavioral paradigm.This project also involves the development of a new biotechnology course at the high school level that will incorporate concepts and techniques relevant to systems neuroscience and neural engineering, which are currently underemphasized or not emphasized at all in high school level biotechnology curricula. Bioengineering graduate and undergraduate students will assist in developing and delivering various components of the course and select high school students will be given the opportunity for summer research internships. This will provide the groundwork for a continuous pipeline of well-prepared biotechnology students from high school to college to grad school/industry.