NEURAL MECHANISMS OF VISUAL PERCEPTION

描述：为了理解视觉感知的神经基础， 来确定大脑感觉区域的信息 来影响控制行为的运动和前运动回路。为 除了最反射性的视觉反应， 运动过程必须包含感知决策。的决定 可以被视为视觉感知的一个易处理的元素， 掌握现代视觉神经科学。过去30年， 关于视觉数据表示的丰富知识， 大脑皮层以及控制眼球运动的皮层区域 功能这项研究计划的下一个目标是将这些 感觉运动连续体的两端。类似于法庭， 视觉皮层包含证据，而运动皮层反映了 法官的判决。目前的调查是针对陪审团的 对判决的审议：大脑如何解释其感官 激活相应的运动回路 本研究的主要目的是（1）表征 神经生理学相关的视觉知觉的决定，在 恒河猴的背外侧前额叶皮层。(2)建立 在这种情况下，神经反应背后的计算性质 脑区，（3）描绘的作用，注意和上下文 感觉运动转换的线索 这些研究代表了视觉神经科学的新领域， 融合了几个领域：视觉心理物理学，计算 神经科学、眼科生理学和记忆的神经生物学。 将感官地图中的证据转换为分类决策的过程 对认知的许多方面都是通用的。神经相关 因此，视觉决定的模型可以作为其他高级皮层的模型。 功能协调发展的通过阐明其神经生物学基础，这些研究 可能会发现新的方法来干预疾病， 视觉认知和智力功能。

DESCRIPTION: To comprehend the neural basis of visual perception, it is necessary to determine how information in sensory regions of the brain comes to influence motor and premotor circuitry governing behavior. For all but the most reflexive visual responses, the link between sensory and motor processes must encompass a perceptual decision. The decision may be regarded as a tractable element of visual perception, within the grasp of modern visual neuroscience. The past 30 years has furnished an abundance of knowledge about the representation of visual data in cortex and nearly as much about cortical areas governing oculomotor function. The next objective of this research program is to unite these ends of the sensorimotor continuum. Analogous to a court of law, the visual cortex contain the evidence, while the motor cortex reflects the judge's sentence. The present inquiry is directed at the jury's deliberations toward a verdict: how does the brain interpret its sensory maps to activate the appropriate motor circuitry? The primary goal of the proposed research is (1) to characterize the neurophysiological correlates of a visual perceptual decision in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex of the rhesus monkey. (2) to establish the nature of computations that underlie the neural response within this brain region, and (3) to delineate the role of attention and contextual cues on the sensorimotor transformation. These investigations represent new territory for visual neuroscience, amalgamating several fields: visual psychophysics, computational neuroscience, oculomotor physiology and the neurobiology of memory. Processes that convert evidence in sensory maps to categorical decisions are likely generic to many aspects of cognition. The neural correlate of a visual decision thus serves as a model for other higher cortical functions. By elucidating its neurobiological basis these studies are likely to found new approaches for intervening in diseases affecting visual cognition and intellectual function.