Multisensory Processing: Plasticity & Accommodation to a Sensory Prosthesis

描述(申请人提供)：本研究计划的目标是调查终身感觉剥夺的行为和神经后果，并将这些后果与植入感觉假体后诱导神经回路正常功能的可能性联系起来。指导这项研究计划的基本假设是：终生感音神经性听力障碍对大脑组织和功能产生深刻的多感觉影响。因此，在成年期接受人工耳蜗植入以诱导听力的结果将取决于多感官皮质的可塑性和加工。在House Clinic接受人工耳蜗术治疗的语前失聪成年人将参加使用行为、电生理和功能磁共振成像(FMRI)方法研究人工耳蜗术前和术后多感觉(视觉、振动触觉和听觉)处理的实验。语言和非语言的多感官知觉效应将被研究。对照组将是听力正常的成年人。实验将调查(1)在人工耳蜗植入前和植入后使用行为学方法进行的视听语音感知；(2)在植入前使用功能磁共振成像检查对振动、视觉和视觉语音刺激做出反应的大脑皮层活动；(3)使用行为训练范式调查植入后的视听和纯听觉口语学习；(4)使用来自脑电(EEG)数据的事件相关电位(ERPs)检测人工耳蜗植入前后的多感觉视听和视觉刺激；以及(5)使用行为、功能磁共振和事件相关电位(ERP)数据检测人工耳蜗植入前后的多感觉事件感知。为了获得高空间和时间分辨率的皮质活动数据，并克服在人工耳蜗术后使用磁共振成像的限制，将使用具有解剖学和功能磁共振约束的ERP数据建模方法。将从患者那里获得全面的主题和设备数据，以便与对实验数据的统计分析结合使用，并创建关于这一临床人群的标准化数据库。与公共健康相关：这个项目解决了有关成人神经可塑性的基本问题。它明确地测试了一种多感觉方法来进行感觉训练，这种方法可能会推广到其他感觉障碍，如失明。该项目将基础科学与正在进行的临床实践和研究生培训相结合。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The goals of this research program are to investigate behavioral and neural consequences of lifelong sensory deprivation and relate those consequences to the potential to induce normal function in neural circuits following implantation of a sensory prosthesis. The fundamental hypotheses guiding the research plan are that: Lifelong sensorineural hearing impairment exerts profound multisensory effects on brain organization and function. Thus, the outcome of receiving a cochlear implant to induce hearing in adulthood will depend on multisensory cortical plasticity and processing. Prelingually deaf adults who are cochlear implant patients at the House Clinic will be enrolled in experiments that use behavioral, electrophysiological and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) methods to investigate multisensory (visual, vibrotactile, and auditory) processing before and after cochlear implantation. Speech and non-speech multisensory perceptual effects will be investigated. Controls will be normal-hearing adults. Experiments will investigate (1) audiovisual speech perception using behavioral methods at pre- and post-cochlear implantation; (2) Cortical activity in response to vibrotactile, visual, and visual-tactile speech stimuli, using fMRI before implantation; (3) Audiovisual versus auditory-only spoken word learning following implantation, using a behavioral training paradigm; (4) Multisensory audiovisual and visual-tactile stimulus detection before and after cochlear implantation, using event-related potentials (ERPs) from electroencephalographic (EEG) data; and (5) Multisensory event perception before and after cochlear implantation using behavioral, fMRI, and ERP data. Modeling methods for ERP data with constraints from anatomical and functional MRI will be used in order to achieve high spatial and temporal resolution data on cortical activity, and also to overcome limitations on the use of MRI following cochlear implantation. Comprehensive subject and device data will be obtained from patients to be used in conjunction with statistical analyses on experimental data and also to create a normative database on this clinical population. Relevance to Public Health: This project addresses fundamental questions about neural plasticity in adults. It explicitly tests a multisensory approach to sensory training that could generalize to other sensory disorders such as blindness. The project integrates basic science with ongoing clinical practice and with graduate student training.