NEURAL MECHANISMS OF CUTANEOUS SPATIAL INTEGRATION

描述(改编自《调查者摘要》)：本项目 分析了神经网络在大脑皮层中的作用 手的感觉功能。它的目的是了解手是如何获得 通过触觉传递的信息，以及感官信息如何 物体的大小和形状指导着手指完成熟练的任务。这些实验 研究调节抓取的神经机制： 识别和操纵手中握住的物体。神经生理学 来自SI、SII和SII的单个神经元和皮质集合的记录 后顶叶皮质测量精确的时间关系 代表不同阶段手指的神经群组 评估皮质网络的功能意义的分层和 并行处理。他们评估了大脑使用 中的顺序分层和并行分布式皮质网络 比较对所掌握的对象进行分类的一般特征 这只手有着独特的细节。这些实验检验了重要的假设。 关于手功能：(1)物体大小的皮质表示是 手部使用的紧急性质。(2)人口活动提供了更好的 物体大小和形状的表示比个体的反应 神经元。(3)触觉和本体感觉输入通过以下方式结合在一起 射击的同步性。(4)手部运动提高了运动敏感性。 (5)后顶叶皮质编码物体的空间位置 而外侧沟的体感区域形成信号对象。 由分布在大脑各处的神经元群体进行的录音 皮质将演示大脑如何整合来自 手指从触觉和本体感受子通道形成统一 对被抓住的物体的感知。机器人运动学的同步测量 手部运动和大脑皮层电生理学将解释 用于处理对象的探索性和操纵性过程提供 手指精细运动控制所需的感觉信息和 对形式的立体认知鉴赏。这些研究将提供基本的 对大脑皮层环路组织的洞察，以及 顺序分层网络与并行分布式处理 皮质功能。实验范例将有助于定义神经 立体识别的基础，这是手功能的一项主要神经学测试。他们 将为感觉运动提供新的和重要的神经生理学数据 集手功能、触觉信息处理于一体 大脑皮层的功能，不同的功能组织 细胞建筑区，以及空间的时间整合 大脑皮质内的信息。

DESCRIPTION (Adapted from the Investigator's Abstract): This project analyzes the role of neural networks in the cerebral cortex mediating the sensory function of the hand. It aims to understand how the hand acquires information through the sense of touch, and how sensory information about object size and shape guides the fingers in skilled tasks. The experiments investigate the neural mechanisms that mediate prehension: the ability to recognize and manipulate objects grasped in the hand. Neurophysiological recordings from single neurons and cortical ensembles in SI, SII and posterior parietal cortex measure the precise temporal relations between neural populations representing individual fingers at several stages of the cortical network to assess the functional significance of hierarchical and parallel processing. They evaluate the hypothesis that the brain uses sequential hierarchical and parallel distributed cortical networks in concert to compare the general features that classify an object grasped in the hand with its unique details. The experiments test important hypotheses concerning hand function: (1) Cortical representation of object size is an emergent property of hand use. (2) Population activity provides a better representation of object size and shape than the responses of individual neurons. (3) Tactile and proprioceptive inputs are bound together by synchrony of firing. (4) Hand movement enhances kinesthetic sensitivity. (5) Posterior parietal cortex encodes the spatial location of objects whereas the somatosensory areas of the lateral sulcus signal object form. Recordings made from populations of neurons distributed across the cerebral cortex will demonstrate how the brain integrates information from the fingers and from tactile and proprioceptive submodalities to form a unified percept of the grasped object. Synchronous measurement of the kinematics of hand movement and cortical electrophysiology will explain how the exploratory and manipulative procedures used to handle objects provide the sensory information necessary for fine motor control of the fingers and stereognostic appreciation of form. These studies will provide fundamental insights into the organization of cortical circuits, and the role of sequential hierarchical networks and parallel distributed processing in cortical function. The experimental paradigms will help define the neural basis of stereognosis, a major neurological test of hand function. They will provide novel and important neurophysiological data on sensorimotor integration in hand function, the tactile information processing capabilities of the cortex, the functional organization of different cytorarchitectural areas, and the temporal integration of spatial information within the cortex.