CRCNS-Attentional Selection and Perceptual Organization

描述（由申请人提供）：视觉感知的一个重要方面是图形-背景分离。因为眼睛只记录3D世界的2D图像，视觉系统需要检测物体的轮廓，并将它们正确地分配给物体侧，而不是背景侧。我们最近的研究表明，“边界所有权”的分配发生在皮层V2区。到目前为止，我们在一个独立的领域研究了选择性注意，这是神经系统在任何时候选择最相关信息的机制。我们发现注意状态和神经反应的时间结构，即神经锋电位序列之间的同步性之间有很强的相关性。在拟议的工作中，我们建议，注意力可以被视为一种机制，在中间视觉和知觉组织的水平。具体来说，我们建议，观察到的边界所有权编码信号产生的神经基板也可以提供注意力选择的“手柄”。选择性注意的中枢过程可能依赖于这个区域提供的视觉数据结构。我们的初步结果表明，注意力控制可能会施加同步结构类似于我们以前的工作。我们将通过计算建模和记录清醒的猴子来研究这一假设。该假设产生了明确的预测，其中一些已经在初步研究中得到证实，另一些将在拟议的工作中进行测试。 理解选择性注意和知觉组织之间的相互作用将有助于理解视觉过程，特别是神经信息处理的一般原理。除了理论上的兴趣，了解视觉皮层的功能是一个重要的目标，鉴于临床应用，因为大脑的大部分都致力于视觉处理，许多神经系统疾病都伴随着中枢视觉障碍。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): An important aspect of visual perception is figure-ground segregation. Because the eyes register only 2D images of a 3D world, the visual system needs to detect the contours of objects and assign them correctly to the object side, rather than to the background side. Our recent studies indicate that the assignment of "border ownership" occurs in cortical area V2. In a so-far separate line of work, we have studied selective attention, which is the mechanism by which the nervous system selects the most relevant information at any time. We have found a strong correlation between the attentional state and the temporal structure of neural responses, viz. synchrony between neural spike trains. In the proposed work, we suggest that attention may be viewed as a mechanism that works at a level of intermediate vision and perceptual organization. Specifically, we propose that the neural substrate that is observed to generate the border ownership coding signals may also provide 'handles' for attentional selection. Central processes of selective attention may then rely on the visual data structure provided by this area. Our preliminary results indicate that attentional control may be exerted by employing synchrony structures akin to those seen in our previous work. We will study this hypothesis both by computational modeling and by recording in awake behaving monkeys. The hypothesis generates clear predictions, of which some have been confirmed in preliminary studies and others are to be tested in the proposed work. Understanding the interplay between selective attention and perceptual organization will contribute significantly to understanding the vision process in particular, and the principles of neural information processing in general. Beyond the theoretical interest, understanding the function of the visual cortex is an important goal in view of clinical applications because large parts of the brain are devoted to visual processing, and many neurological diseases are accompanied by central visual disorders.