SENSORIMOTOR INTEGRATION IN SPATIAL ORIENTATION

神经系统的一个基本目标是保持定向力和 相对于外部世界的平衡。正常的性能需要 我们在周围环境中准确地定位自己，区分 脱离环境要素的自我运动，控制运动 穿越一个复杂的世界。这些任务是由神经系统完成的。 它可以协调和集成多种运动行为 来自多个感官通道的反馈。视觉与试听(视听 身体及其部位的外部感觉位置和前庭输入 产生头部运动和方向信息。这些感官输入是 然后由大脑进行处理，产生所需的运动行为 进行自然活动。例如，眼睛和头部协调一致 获得并保持对感兴趣目标的注视的运动，引导 使我们能够准确地抓住和操纵物体的手部动作， 以及保持行走所需的姿势和步态稳定性。 这些关键且无处不在的功能如何工作并保持协调， 以及它们是如何随着自然老化而退化的，构成了 拟开展的研究。这一努力是由两个公共卫生推动的 关注：老龄化伴随着临床疾病的逐渐增加 平衡失调的流行，以及跌倒的风险和后果。 这两种现象都构成了空间定向和平衡的失败 控制力。 我们将研究作为基础的生理和心理物理参数 大脑如何利用前庭、视觉、本体感觉和听觉 控制眼-头-手协调和姿势稳定性的输入。多么 这些功能随着年龄的增长而恶化将被确定。此外，我们 将量化保持准确校准的自适应能力 在感觉形式之间，在外部感觉输入和运动之间 输出(例如，准确的眼睛注视或抓取)，并将澄清 这些适应能力中潜在的年龄相关限制。状态 将使用本领域的技术来分离和组合特定的 与空间定位和运动习得相关的感觉线索 对于外部目标的控制以及对姿势稳定性的控制。我们 假设感觉相互作用中的特定缺陷，感觉运动 随着年龄的增长，出现了整合和适应性可塑性。此外，一个 需要对这些功能有透彻的了解才能开发 可能纠正或恢复的具体和有效的干预措施， 潜在的年龄相关或疾病引起的缺陷。

An essential goal of the nervous system is to maintain orientation and equilibrium relative to the outside world. Normal performance requires that we accurately localize ourselves within our surrounding, distinguish self-movement from that of environment elements, and control movement through a complex world. These tasks are accomplished by neural systems that coordinate and integrate multiple motor behaviors with the aid of feedback from multiple sensory modalities. Vision and audition (the exteroceptive position of the body and its parts, and vestibular inputs yield head motion and orientation information. These sensory inputs are then processed by the brain, which generates the motor behaviors required to perform natural activities. Examples include coordinated eye and head movements that acquire and hold fixation on targets of interest, guided hand movements that allow us to accurately grasp and manipulate objects, and maintenance of postural and gait stability required for ambulation. How these crucial and ubiquitous functions work and maintain coordination, and how they degenerate with natural aging, constitute the subject of the proposed research. This endeavor is motivated by two public health concerns: aging is accompanied by a progressive increase in the clinical prevalence of dysequilibrium, and in the risk and consequences of falls. Both phenomena constitute failures of spatial orientation and equilibrium control. We will study physiological and psychophysical parameters that underlie how the brain utilizes vestibular, visual, proprioceptive, and auditory inputs to control eye-head-hand coordination and postural stability. How these functions deteriorate with aging will be determined. Further, we will quantify adaptive capabilities that maintain accurate calibration between sensory modalities and between exteroceptive input and motor output (e.g. accurate ocular fixation or grasping), and will elucidate potential age-dependent limitations in these adaptive capabilities. State of the art techniques will be employed to isolate and combine specific sensory cues relevant to spatial localization and to the motor acquisition of external targets, as well as to the control of postural stability. We hypothesize that specific deficits in sensory interactions, sensorimotor integration, and adaptive plasticity occur with aging. Further, a thorough understanding of these functions is required in order to develop specific and effective interventions that might correct, or rehabilitate, potential age-dependent or disease-induced deficits.