Dynamic imaging of oscillatory brain networks controlling selective attention

描述（由申请人提供）：注意力和认知控制是指根据我们的计划，目标和不断变化的环境需求指导行为的大脑过程。在我们的日常生活中，我们不断地需要一种能力来分配注意力资源，以解决相互竞争的感官输入之间的冲突，并在必要时灵活地将注意力转移到另一个信息源上。该研究计划使用先进的脑成像方法组合来研究人脑不同区域的神经元如何协同工作，以实现听觉信息处理过程中的冲突监测，资源分配和注意力转移。为了构建这些功能的生理学上合理的模型，我们将通过分析被称为神经元振荡的集体同步激活模式来研究来自遥远脑区的神经元组之间的相互作用。以前的功能性磁共振成像（fMRI），脑电图（EEG）和脑磁图（MEG）的研究已经产生了有价值的信息，空间与时间与频谱方面的大脑激活过程中需要注意和认知控制的任务。然而，在大多数以前的研究中，这些不同的方法已被单独使用，这导致了空间和时间/光谱分辨率之间的妥协。因此，我们将利用我们的时空脑成像技术，结合频谱和时间上精确的MEG/EEG，空间上精确的功能磁共振成像，和高分辨率的解剖MRI信息来测量听觉任务执行过程中的大脑活动。我们将应用由此产生的数据来识别有助于注意力和认知控制的大脑区域网络，预计该网络将包括前额叶，内侧额叶和后顶叶区域以及感觉和运动皮层。除了提供独特的信息激活的相对时间，我们的方法使我们能够确定振荡的时间-频率表示（TFR）和相位锁定值（PLV）之间的区域激活在皮层的“源空间”，这是一个相当大的进步相比，以前的方法。我们的具体目标是确定不同的大脑区域如何协同工作，以解决竞争性听觉输入的冲突（目标1），并在信息源之间灵活转换（目标2）。我们的光谱时空脑成像方法将使我们能够表征空间分布的前额叶和顶叶区域如何通过振荡相互作用进行合作，以实现注意力和认知控制。这项研究有助于实现对听觉领域注意力和认知控制的系统级理解，也揭示了神经元振荡在人类认知中作用的新见解。 公共卫生相关性：我们将使用先进的脑成像方法来研究不同脑区的神经元如何协同工作，以实现听觉信息处理过程中的注意力和认知控制。我们的研究结果也可能支持调查异常的认知控制功能障碍。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Attention and cognitive control refer to brain processes that guide behavior in accordance of our plans, goals, and changing environmental demands. In our everyday life, we constantly need a capacity to allocate attentional resources for resolving conflicts between competing sensory inputs and, whenever necessary, to flexibly shift attention to an alternative source of information. This research program uses an advanced combination of brain imaging methods to investigate how neurons in different areas of the human brain work together to enable conflict monitoring, resource allocation, and attention shifting during auditory information processing. To construct a physiologically plausible model of these functions, we will investigate interactions between neuron groups from distant brain areas by analyzing collective synchronous activation patterns referred to as neuronal oscillations. Previous functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), electroencephalography (EEG), and magnetoencephalography (MEG) studies have produced valuable information about spatial vs. temporal vs. spectral aspects of brain activations during tasks requiring attention and cognitive control. However, in most previous studies, these different methods have been used separately, which has resulted in compromises between spatial and temporal/spectral resolution. Therefore, we will utilize our spatiotemporal brain imaging technique that combines spectrally and temporally precise MEG/EEG, spatially accurate fMRI, and high-resolution anatomical MRI information to measure brain activity during auditory task performance. We will apply the resulting data to identify a network of brain regions contributing to attention and cognitive control, which is expected to encompass prefrontal, medial frontal, and posterior parietal areas as well as sensory and motor cortices. In addition to providing unique information on the relative timing of activations, our approach allows us to determine oscillatory time-frequency representations (TFR) and phase-locking values (PLV) between the regional activations in the cortical "source space", which is a considerable advancement in comparison to previous methods. Our specific goal is to determine how different brain areas work together to resolve conflicts across competing auditory inputs (Aim 1) and to flexibly shift between sources of information (Aim 2). Our spectral spatiotemporal brain imaging approach will allow us to characterize how the spatially distributed prefrontal and parietal areas cooperate via oscillatory interactions to enable attention and cognitive control. This research could help achieve a system-level understanding of attention and cognitive control in the auditory domain, and also reveal new insights on the role of neuronal oscillations in human cognition. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: We will use advanced brain imaging methods to investigate how neurons in different brain areas work together to enable attention and cognitive control during auditory information processing. Our results may also support investigation of disorders with abnormal cognitive control functions.