The role of long-term contextual memory in attentional control

描述(由申请人提供)：环境中的视觉信息比我们一次处理的要多，选择性注意力能力允许我们只选择与我们当前目标相关的信息。视觉注意理论通常认为，这种以目标为导向的选择依赖于工作中对直接任务优先级的保持 记忆，注意力系统使用这些信息来确定在给定的情况下，哪些信息被注意或忽略。因此，研究目标定向注意控制的认知和神经机制的研究几乎完全集中在工作记忆系统在这一过程中的作用。同时，考虑到工作记忆的有限容量和大多数任务(以及相关目标)的复杂性，工作记忆中信息的主动维持不太可能是目标定向注意力的唯一责任。相反，在给定环境中的规律性经验可以导致长期记忆表征的形成，这种表征可以在未来遇到该环境时自动驱动注意力的分配。通过这种方式，学习诱导体内的可塑性 注意系统可以提高目标定向注意的效率，同时减少对有限容量工作记忆过程的需求。更好地理解长期语境信息如何改变注意系统内的神经处理不仅从基础科学的角度来看很重要，而且还可以用来提供行为和药物干预的信息，旨在改善正常和紊乱大脑的选择性注意能力。然而，目前还不清楚语境学习是如何影响神经水平上的选择性注意的。为此，这一研究的主要目标是 培训方案是通过在人类和非人类灵长类动物中采用比较电生理学的方法，了解情境学习如何在神经元和系统水平上影响注意力。具体地说，其目的是1)利用头皮记录的脑电阐明人类和非人类灵长类动物上下文相关注意学习的电生理标记，以及2)使用单单位神经生理学技术来确定这些变化是如何在单个神经元水平上例示的。通过这项工作，我的目标是发展人类和非人类灵长类动物电生理学方面的专业知识，补充我在行为和神经心理学方法方面的专业知识，以研究记忆和注意力功能。这将使我能够直接连接人类和动物的认知模型，并允许更直接和快速地将我的基础研究转化为临床研究。 相关申请。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): There is more visual information in the environment than we can process at one time, and selective attention abilities allow us to select only the information that is relevant to our current goals. Theories of visual attention typically propose that this goal-directed selection relies on the maintenance of immediate task priorities in working memory, with the attention system using this information to determine what information is attended or ignored in a given situation. As a result, studies examining the cognitive and neural mechanisms of goal-directed attentional control have focused almost exclusively on the role of working memory systems in this process. At the same time, given the limited capacity of working memory and the complexity of most tasks (and associated goals) it is unlikely that the active maintenance of information in working memory is solely responsible for goal-directed attention. Instead, experience with regularities in a given environmental context can lead to the formation of long-term memory representations that can automatically drive the allocation of attention upon future encounters with that context. In this way, learning-induced plasticity within the attentional system can increase the efficiency of goal-directed attention while simultaneously decreasing demands on limited-capacity working memory processes. A better understanding of how long-term contextual information changes neural processing within the attentional system is not only important from a basic science standpoint, but can also be used to inform behavioral and pharmacological interventions designed to improve selective attention abilities in both the normal and disordered brain. However, it is currently unknown precisely how contextual learning influences selective attention at the neural level. To this end, the primary research goal of this training proposal is to understand how contextual learning influences attention at both the neuronal and systems level, by employing a comparative electrophysiological approach in humans and non-human primates. Specifically, the aims are to 1) elucidate electrophysiological markers of context-dependent attentional learning in humans and non-human primates using scalp-recorded EEG, and 2) use single-unit neurophysiological techniques to determine how these changes are instantiated at the level of individual neurons. Through this work, my goal is to develop expertise in both, human and non- human primate electrophysiology, complementing my expertise in behavioral and neuropsychological approaches to the study of memory and attention function. This will provide me the ability to directly bridge human and animal models of cognition, as well as allowing more direct and rapid translation of my basic research to clinically relevant applications.