Collaborative Research: NCS-FR: Volitional control of internal cognitive states

从本质上讲，人类不是有逻辑的生物。保持镇静需要专注，不要让情绪影响我们的判断。当我们能够控制自己的情绪状态时，我们就能进入状态，表现良好。如果做不到这一点，我们将“度过糟糕的一天”，或者干脆“休假”。这一切为什么要发生？就神经生物学机制而言，这是如何发生的？我们的情绪受到内部状态的调节，如唤醒、注意力和动机，这些都是大脑的调节过程，影响与感知、决策和行动相关的神经功能。这些相互作用的神经机制是什么？这个项目将探索大脑皮层内部状态和认知过程之间的相互作用。研究人员将利用他们在“大脑训练”方面的专业知识，向受试者提供关于他们神经活动的视觉反馈，以便他们直接了解自己的内部状态。通过这种方式，他们将研究受试者是否能够更好地调节他们的内部状态，以便他们能够做出知觉判断，并在高水平的表现下更一致地表现出运动技能。研究人员还将组织研讨会，汇聚与该项目相关领域的专家，培训研究人员精通实验和计算神经科学，并加强本科生、女性和代表性不足的少数族裔对研究的参与。该项目涉及三条综合研究思路。首先，研究人员将同时使用大脑皮层多个区域的多电极记录，以确定整个大脑内部状态的特征及其对大脑皮层区域之间通信的影响。其次，他们将训练受试者使用神经反馈来自愿控制他们的内部状态。第三，他们将考察受试者是否能够利用他们的内部状态来加速学习，并在具有挑战性的知觉和运动任务中提高表现。在这些研究中，他们将关注三种类型的内部状态--一种是在我们周围的空间世界中引导我们的(空间注意力)，一种是管理我们全天的警觉性(唤醒)，一种是帮助我们努力专注于前方的事情(动机)。他们将研究这些内部状态是如何相互作用的，以及在多大程度上可以在大脑的三个区域随意控制它们：视觉区域V4、前额叶皮质和运动皮质。他们的工作将提供i)多种内部状态对横跨感知和行动的全脑神经计算的影响的统一描述，以及ii)神经反馈范例，使受试者能够利用他们的内部状态来提高表现。该项目由理解神经和认知系统的综合策略(NCS)资助，NCS是一个多学科项目，由生物学(BIO)、计算机和信息科学与工程(CEISE)、教育和人力资源(EHR)、工程(ENG)和社会、行为和经济科学(SBE)理事会联合支持。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Humans are not, by nature, logical creatures. It takes focus to maintain our composure and not let emotions color our judgement. When we can control our emotional state, we can get “in the zone” and perform well. Failing to do so, we’ll “have a bad day”, or just be “off”. Why does this happen? And, in terms of neurobiological mechanisms, how does this happen? Our emotions are regulated by internal states, such as arousal, attention, and motivation, brain-wide modulatory processes that impact neural function related to perception, decision making, and action. What are the neural mechanisms of those interactions? This project will explore the interactions between internal states and cognitive processing in the cerebral cortex. The investigators will leverage their expertise in “brain training” by giving subjects visual feedback about their neural activity so that they are directly aware of their internal states. In this way, they will study whether subjects are able to better regulate their internal states so that they are able to make perceptual judgments and perform motor skills more consistently at a high level of performance. The investigators will also organize workshops to bring together experts in areas related to this project, train researchers to become well-versed in experimental and computational neuroscience, and enhance the participation of undergraduates, women, and underrepresented minorities in the research. This project involves three integrated research threads. First, the investigators will use multi-electrode recordings in several regions of the cerebral cortex simultaneously to identify brain-wide signatures of internal states and their effect on the communication between cortical areas. Second, they will train subjects to volitionally control their internal states using neurofeedback. Third, they will examine whether subjects can harness their internal states to accelerate learning and improve performance on challenging perceptual and motor tasks. In these studies, they will focus on three types of internal states -- one that guides us in the spatial world around us (spatial attention), one that manages our alertness throughout the day (arousal), and one that aids our effort in focusing on what lies ahead (motivation). They will study how these internal states interact and to what extent they can be volitionally controlled in three areas across the brain: visual area V4, prefrontal cortex, and motor cortex. Together, their work will provide i) a unified account of the impact of multiple internal states on brain-wide neural computations spanning perception and action, and ii) neurofeedback paradigms to enable subjects to harness their internal states for improved performance. This project is funded by Integrative Strategies for Understanding Neural and Cognitive Systems (NCS), a multidisciplinary program jointly supported by the Directorates for Biology (BIO), Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE), Education and Human Resources (EHR), Engineering (ENG), and Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences (SBE).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.