CAREER: Sensorimotor representations in visual working memory.

工作记忆是一种持续时间短、容量有限的系统，它使信息存储处于“在线”状态。一些证据表明，工作记忆是复杂认知的一个组成部分，工作记忆中断在许多发育、精神和神经疾病中都很常见。作为一个通用的工作空间，工作记忆在感觉信息和预期行为之间提供了一个重要的桥梁，然而关于记忆表征是如何被选择并转化为显性行为的，我们知之甚少。该项目将以两种互补的方式推进支持工作记忆和运动控制的神经回路之间相互作用的知识。首先，它将检验一个假设，即支持工作记忆的神经回路严重依赖于一个人打算如何使用记住的信息。其次，它将测试这样一个假设：当有利时，大脑将记忆表征和运动计划合并为一个完整的单元，这样激活一个记忆表征就会自动激活一个相关的运动计划（反之亦然）。这项研究包括一项综合的、雄心勃勃的教育和推广计划，旨在增加本科生——特别是代表性不足的群体和第一代大学生——在基础研究活动中的招募和保留。该项目将开展一系列研讨会，向学生介绍人类神经科学的基本研究技术，包括学生收集和分析自己的数据的机会。有意行为要求生物体选择和维持与当前目标相关的感觉、记忆和运动表征。这些表示组合在一个称为工作内存的临时存储缓冲区中。这项提议的目标是了解大脑如何将暂时的助记表征转化为具体的行动计划。一种假说认为，支持工作记忆存储的神经回路灵活地结合了后感觉皮层和皮层区域，以产生与任务相关的输出（例如，言语反应、眼动反应和手动反应）。在有利的情况下，大脑可以整合助记信息和运动信息，这样启动一个信息源（例如，记忆表征）会自动启动另一个信息源（例如，特定的运动反应）。该项目将通过利用非侵入性神经成像方法（脑电图和功能性神经成像）和图像重建技术来测试这一假设，当参与者执行需要口头、手动或动眼肌反应的工作记忆任务时，在感觉和运动皮层中重建、可视化和量化刺激特异性记忆表征。这个项目的发现将对支持工作记忆的回路以及心理表征如何映射到显性行为产生重要的新见解。此外，这项基础研究有可能对伴随许多发育、精神和神经疾病的典型工作记忆中断产生新的见解。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Working memory is a short-duration, limited-capacity system that enables the storage of information in an “online” state. Several lines of evidence suggest that working memory is an integral component of complex cognition, and working memory disruptions are common in many developmental, psychiatric, and neurological conditions. As a general-purpose workspace, working memory provides an important bridge between sensory information and anticipated actions, yet little is known about how memory representations are selected and translated into overt behaviors. This project will advance knowledge of the interplay between neural circuits supporting working memory and motor control in two complementary ways. First, it will test the hypothesis that the neural circuitry supporting working memory is critically dependent on how a person intends to use remembered information. Second, it will test the hypothesis that, when advantageous, the brain merges memory representations and motor plans into integrated units such that activating a memory representation automatically activates an associated motor plan (and vice versa). The research includes an integrated and ambitious education and outreach plan designed to increase the recruitment and retention of undergraduate students – particularly members of underrepresented groups and first-generation college students – in basic research activities. This project will develop a series of workshops where students will be introduced to basic research techniques in the human neurosciences, including opportunities for students to collect and analyze their own data. Intentional behaviors require organisms to select and maintain sensory, mnemonic, and motor representations that are relevant to current goals. These representations are combined in a temporary storage buffer known as working memory. The goal of this proposal is to understand how the brain translates temporary mnemonic representations into specific action plans. A hypothesis is that neural circuits supporting working memory storage flexibly incorporate posterior sensory cortex and cortical regions for generating task-relevant outputs (e.g., a verbal vs. oculomotor vs. manual response). When advantageous, the brain could integrate mnemonic and motor information such that priming one source of information (e.g., a memory representation) automatically primes the other (e.g., a specific motor response). This project will test this hypothesis by leveraging non-invasive neuroimaging methods (electroencephalography and functional neuroimaging) and image reconstruction techniques to reconstruct, visualize, and quantify stimulus-specific mnemonic representations in sensory and motor cortices while participants perform working memory tasks requiring verbal, manual, or oculomotor responses. The findings of this project will yield important new insights into the circuitry supporting working memory, as well as how mental representations are mapped onto overt actions. In addition, this basic research has the potential to yield new insights into disruptions in working memory that typically accompany many developmental, psychiatric, and neurological disorders.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.