Dynamic imaging of oscillatory brain networks controlling selective attention

描述(由申请人提供)：注意力和认知控制指的是大脑根据我们的计划、目标和不断变化的环境需求来指导行为的过程。在我们的日常生活中，我们经常需要一种能力来分配注意力资源，以解决相互竞争的感觉输入之间的冲突，并在必要时灵活地将注意力转移到另一种信息来源。这项研究计划使用先进的脑成像方法组合来研究人类大脑不同区域的神经元如何协同工作，以实现在听觉信息处理过程中的冲突监控、资源分配和注意力转移。为了构建这些功能的生理上可信的模型，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。以前的功能磁共振成像(FMRI)、脑电(EEG)和脑磁图(MEG)研究已经产生了关于在需要注意和认知控制的任务中大脑激活的空间、时间和频谱方面的有价值的信息。然而，在以前的大多数研究中，这些不同的方法是分开使用的，这导致了空间分辨率和时间/光谱分辨率之间的折衷。因此，我们将利用我们的时空脑成像技术来测量听觉任务执行期间的大脑活动，该技术结合了频谱和时间上精确的MEG/EEG、空间上精确的fMRI和高分辨率的解剖MRI信息。我们将应用所得到的数据来确定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、顶叶后区以及感觉和运动皮质。除了提供关于激活的相对时间的唯一信息外，我们的方法还允许我们确定大脑皮层“源空间”中区域激活之间的振荡时频表示(TFR)和锁相值(PLV)，这与以前的方法相比是一个相当大的进步。我们的具体目标是确定不同的大脑区域如何协同工作，以解决相互竞争的听觉输入之间的冲突(目标1)，并灵活地在信息来源之间转换(目标2)。我们的光谱时空脑成像方法将使我们能够描述空间分布的前额叶和顶叶区域如何通过振荡相互作用来合作，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和认知控制的系统水平的理解，并对神经元振荡在人类认知中的作用提供新的见解。 与公共健康相关：我们将使用先进的大脑成像方法来研究不同大脑区域的神经元如何协同工作，以在听觉信息处理过程中实现注意力和认知控制。我们的结果也可能支持对认知控制功能异常的障碍的研究。

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.