COMPUTATIONAL ASPECTS OF PRIMATE MEMORY

该子项目是利用NIH/NCRR资助的中心赠款提供的资源的许多研究子项目之一。子项目和研究者（PI）可能从另一个NIH来源获得了主要资金，因此可以在其他CRISP条目中表示。所列机构为中心，不一定是研究者所在机构。主动短期记忆在行为、推理和语言的时间组织中起着关键作用。它在各种精神障碍中受损，特别是在精神病、严重情感障碍和由大脑病理性老化引起的综合征中。最近的实验证据表明，活跃的短期记忆包括大脑皮层的互连神经元组件的广泛网络的持续激活。记忆网络分布广泛，超出了解剖学定义的皮层区域的边界。主动记忆的机制被认为包括在一个这样的网络内持续循环神经冲动。本研究将试图证实活跃的短期记忆的分布特性和神经冲动的重入被认为是短期记忆保持的基础。这一目标的实验将在非人类灵长类动物中进行，这些灵长类动物被训练来执行听觉、触觉和跨模态记忆任务。在执行这些任务的过程中，以及在一定程度上在学习过程中，大脑皮层的额叶和顶叶区域将记录场电位和细胞放电。将分析细胞放电的频率和模式，以寻找在感觉信息的短期记忆期间这些皮层区域内和之间的神经元相互作用的证据。将使用时间序列分析的特殊计算方法来探讨这些相互作用。一些相互作用将进一步探讨可逆的功能性抑郁症（通过局部冷却）的额叶皮层和研究其对顶叶细胞放电和动物的触觉记忆任务的性能的影响。这些研究的结果有望阐明皮层记忆网络的功能结构以及记忆的编码、保持和提取机制。更好地理解记忆的神经动力学可能有助于我们更好地理解精神病患者记忆障碍的发病机制，从而导致更好的治疗。

This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. Active short-term memory plays a critical role in the temporal organization of behavior, reasoning, and language. It is impaired in a variety of mental disorders, notably in the psychoses, major affective disorders and syndromes resulting from pathological aging of the brain. Recent experimental evidence indicates that active short-term memory consists in the sustained activation of an extensive network of interconnected neuronal assemblies of the cerebral cortex. Memory networks are widely distributed, extending beyond the boundaries of anatomically defined cortical areas. The mechanisms of active memory are believed to include the sustained circulation of neuronal impulses within one such network. This research will attempt to substantiate the distributed nature of active short-term memory and the reentry of neural impulses presumed to be the basis of short-term memory retention. Experiments with that objective will be conducted in nonhuman primates trained to perform auditory, tactile, and cross-modal memory tasks. Fields potentials and cell discharge will be recorded from frontal and parietal regions of the cortex during performance--and also to some extent during learning--of those tasks. Frequency and pattern of cell discharge will be analyzed for evidence of neuronal interactions within and between those cortical regions during the short-term memorization of sensory information. Special computational methods of time-series analysis will be used to explore those interactions. Some of the interactions will be further explored by reversible functional depression (by local cooling) of frontal cortex and the study of its effects on parietal cell discharge and the animal's performance of haptic memory tasks. The results of these studies are expected to shed light on the functional architecture of cortical memory networks and on the mechanisms of encoding, retention, and retrieval of memory. A better understanding of the neural dynamics of memory may h elp us better understand the pathogenesis of memory disorders in the mentally ill and thus lead to better treatments.