Neural mechanisms providing flexible links between perception and action

在一个复杂和不断变化的世界中，成功的决策涉及多个步骤：第一，确定与决策相关的信息;第二，确定可能明智的行动;第三，决定在当前情况下最合理的行动。为了实现这一点，我们的大脑需要选择与决策相关的感官信号，并将相关的感官证据与行动规划过程联系起来。在美国国家科学基金会的资助下，Jochen Ditterich博士和他的研究团队正在研究我们的大脑如何根据感官信息做出决定。他的研究是调查神经机制，提供必要的灵活性，以应对不断变化的环境。在他的研究中，参与者进行了一项知觉决策任务，要求他们将决策相关的信息与不相关的信息分开，并切换刺激-反应关联。研究人员正在分析人类的决策行为，并使用计算机建模来揭示允许我们的大脑做出灵活决策的机制的特性。此外，对动物执行相同决策任务时的神经活动进行记录，有助于我们深入了解神经机制，这些神经机制可以区分决策相关信息和无关信息，并根据当前任务的要求转换刺激-反应关联。我们的大脑可以轻松地适应我们可能发现的非常不同的情况，这是我们认知能力的一个标志。从机械论的角度来看，在复杂和不断变化的情况下做出决策意味着我们的大脑必须能够快速改变信息在其不同部分之间的流动方式。虽然已经提出了大脑如何实现这一点的理论，但实际的神经机制令人惊讶地知之甚少。这项研究有望为我们理解必要的大脑机制及其局限性提供重大进展。这些知识将是制定战略，以改善决策在复杂的情况下，并了解故障的这些神经机制在精神障碍，例如，在精神分裂症的情况下，一个先决条件。

Successful decision-making in a complex and ever-changing world involves multiple steps; First, identifying decision-relevant information: Second, identifying possibly sensible actions; and Third, deciding on an action that is most reasonable under the current circumstances. To achieve this, our brain needs to select decision-relevant sensory signals, and link the relevant sensory evidence to the action planning process. With funding from the National Science Foundation, Dr. Jochen Ditterich and his research team, are carrying out research on how our brains are able to make decisions on the basis of sensory information. His research is investigating the neural mechanisms that provide the necessary flexibility to deal with a changing environment. In his research, participants carry out a perceptual decision task that requires them to separate decision-relevant from irrelevant information and to switch stimulus-response associations. The investigators are analyzing human decision behavior and are using computational modeling to reveal the properties of the mechanisms that allow our brain to make flexible decisions. In addition, recordings of neural activity from animals performing the same decision task are providing insight into the neural mechanisms that can separate decision-relevant from irrelevant information, and that can switch stimulus-response associations based on the current task demands.It is a hallmark of our cognitive abilities that our brain can easily adjust to very different situations in which we might find ourselves. From a mechanistic point of view, decision-making in complex and changing situations means that our brain must be able to change quickly how information flows between its different parts. While theories have been proposed how the brain might be able to achieve this, the actual neural mechanisms are surprisingly poorly understood. This study is expected to provide a major advance in our understanding of the necessary brain mechanisms, as well as their limits. Such knowledge will be a prerequisite for developing strategies to improve decision-making in complex situations and for understanding failures of these neural mechanisms in mental disorders, for example, in the case of schizophrenia.