Complex decisions and the brain: an experimental and theoretical approach

描述(由申请人提供)：本提案的目标是扩大我们对决策的理解，使其超越迄今已研究的简单范例。生理记录和行为分析将被用来描述猴子对更复杂的决策任务的反应；理论建模将有助于解释这些反应。到目前为止，我所受的训练使我非常适合这项工作：我在清醒的猴子行为中进行生理学实验方面有丰富的经验。此外，我在理论建模方面有一些经验；额外的培训将为我作为一名独立调查人员取得进步做好准备。作为一名博士后，我收集了参与多项选择决策任务的猴子的生理数据。这些数据有可能大大提高我们对决策的理解：以前用于研究决策的任务的简单性表明，它们可能对总体上的决策提供了有限的洞察力。事实上，我的数据对当前的模型构成了重大挑战。拟议的职业发展计划包括我目前的导师沙德伦博士提供的关于理论技术的培训，以扩展当前的模型，以解释更复杂的决定。我的共同导师，王博士和普吉特，已经同意进行合作来解决这个问题。这次合作将使我能够 考虑两个新的模型。来自三位导师的联合培训将为我提供理论神经科学的基础，我可以将这一基础与我作为独立研究人员的实验技能结合起来。 对于我的独立研究，我建议将我的实验和理论技能结合起来，研究一种新的 进一步测试更复杂决策的一系列实验。这些实验结合了视觉 决策任务来自我的博士后工作，具有新奇、听觉的决策任务。这项工作的目标有两个：首先，我将询问如何扩展决策模型，以纳入来自两个模式的输入。接下来，我会问，当决策基于两种模式的证据时，行为和生理反应会发生什么变化。一些临床疾病，尤其是自闭症，似乎会导致整合感觉信息的能力受损。识别自闭症患者感觉整合的神经机制可能有助于自闭症患者的临床治疗。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The goal of this proposal is to extend our understanding of decision-making beyond the simple paradigms that have been studied thus far. Physiological recording and behavioral analysis will be used to describe how monkeys respond to more complex decision tasks; theoretical modeling will help interpret the responses. My training thus far makes me ideally suited for this endeavor: I have extensive experience in conducting physiology experiments in awake, behaving monkeys. Further, I have some experience in theoretical modeling; additional training will prepare me to make advances as an independent investigator. As a postdoctoral fellow, I have collected physiological data from monkeys engaged in a multiple choice decision task. This data has the potential to make a major advance to our understanding of decision making: the simplicity of previous tasks used to study decision-making suggests that they may offer limited insight into decision-making in general. Indeed, my data pose a major challenge to current models. The proposed career development plan incorporates training from my current mentor, Dr. Shadlen, on theoretical techniques to extend current models to explain more complex decisions. My co-mentors, Drs. Wang and Pouget, have agreed to enter into a collaboration to address this question. The collaboration will allow me to consider two novel models. The combined training from three mentors will provide a foundation in theoretical neuroscience that I can combine with my experimental skills as an independent researcher. For my independent research, I propose to combine my experimental and theoretical skills on a new series of experiments that further test more complex decisions. These experiments combine the visual decision-making task from my postdoctoral work with a novel, auditory decision-making task. The goals of this work are twofold: first, I will ask how the models of decision-making can be extended to incorporate input from 2 modalities. Next, I will ask how behavioral and physiological responses change when decisions are based on evidence from two modalities. A number of clinical disorders, foremost among them Autism, appear to cause impairments in the ability to integrate sensory information. Identifying neural mechanisms that underlie sensory integration within and across modalities may inform clinical treatments for Autistic patients.