Attention and representation in auditory cortex

描述(申请人提供)：哺乳动物进化出选择性注意力，从复杂的世界中提取有用的感觉信息。以前的神经生理学研究大多将感觉表征和选择性注意建模为独立的、分层的过程：首先，感觉系统被动地过滤输入刺激，然后注意系统从过滤后的输出中选择相关信息。这项研究的目的是检验另一种假设，即这两个过程在感觉加工的中间阶段是紧密耦合的。如果感觉神经元的过滤特性受到注意力的调节，那么注意力可能采用的计算策略的数量将急剧增加。这项工作将集中于描述初级听觉皮质神经元在不同注意条件下的功能特性。使用简单刺激的发现将在自然行为任务中进行一般性测试。部分听力损失人工耳蜗术后患者经常抱怨在嘈杂环境中的听觉场景分割和听力困难。这项研究将提供对成功完成这些任务所需的皮质过程的洞察。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Mammals have evolved selective attention to extract useful sensory information from a complex world. Most previous neurophysiology research has modeled sensory representation and selective attention as independent, hierarchical processes: First, sensory systems passively filter input stimuli, and then attention systems select relevant information from the filtered output. The goal of this study is to test the alternative hypothesis that these two processes are tightly coupled at intermediate stages of sensory processing. If the filtering properties of sensory neurons are modulated by attention, then the number of possible computational strategies employed by attention will expand dramatically. This work will focus on characterizing the functional properties of neurons in primary auditory cortex under varying attention conditions. Findings using simple stimuli will be tested for their generality in natural behavior tasks. Patients with partial hearing loss and cochlear implants often complain of difficulty in auditory scene segmentation and hearing in noisy environments. This study will provide insight into the cortical processes required for performing these tasks successfully.