Neural computation from retina to visual cortex

项目摘要 这项研究旨在了解视觉信息在眼睛和大脑中是如何处理的。愿景开始于 视网膜是位于眼睛后部的一个复杂的神经元网络，视觉图像在这里被转化为 通过视神经纤维传到大脑的动作电位流。信号在那里传递 通过丘脑到达视皮层，在那里产生更大的神经元回路。近期 研究改变了我们对视网膜的看法：而它过去被认为是视觉的简单预过滤 图像，新的结果表明，视网膜计算场景的非常具体的特征，并将这些传达到 大脑通过许多平行的通道。拟议的研究将建立在这项工作的基础上，既是为了进一步我们的 了解视网膜如何将图像转换为尖峰信号，并研究这种视觉编码是如何 场景可以被大脑用于进一步的处理。这将在一个合作项目中得到解决，该项目 结合了实验、理论和计算方法。具体目标是：(1)统一 在一个共同的数学形式主义下视网膜的不同功能，并利用这一点发现新的 功能；(2)确定我们的大脑如何处理视网膜信号，以快速理解一个新的场景； (3)解释在眼睛从不静止的情况下，我们的视力为何如此敏锐。 如果成功，这项研究将在多个方面带来好处。首先，它将扩大我们对 像视网膜这样的神经电路可以计算以及信息是如何在其输出中编码的，这是 系统神经科学。其次，它将有助于解开视觉处理的两个谜团，这两个谜团都与其 惊人的速度和高度的敏锐度。第三，这些领域的进展将使脑科学总体受益。许多 在视网膜中遇到的电路模体在其他大脑区域中重复，很可能起到类似的作用 网络级功能。最后，对早期视觉功能的更好理解可以改变一个人的思维方式 关于视力疾病和治疗。例如，现在似乎以前分配给的某些功能 视觉皮质已经存在于视网膜中；如果是这样，那么视网膜功能障碍可能还有更多 对视觉体验的精细效果。相反，在努力治疗视网膜退化方面，通过电子或 基因假体需要知道假体应该模仿视网膜功能的哪些方面 支持视觉感知。

Project Summary This research aims at understanding how visual information is processed in the eye and brain. Vision begins in the retina, a complex network of neurons in the back of the eye where visual images are converted into streams of action potentials that travel through the fibers of the optic nerve to the brain. There the signals pass through the thalamus to the visual cortex, where much larger circuits of neurons are brought to bear. Recent research has changed our view of the retina: Whereas it used to be considered a simple prefilter for the visual image, new results suggest that the retina computes quite specific features of the scene and conveys those to the brain through many parallel channels. The proposed research will build on this work, both to further our understanding of how the retina converts images into spike trains, and to investigate how this code for visual scenes can be used by the brain for further processing. This will be addressed in a collaborative project that combines experimental as well as theoretical and computational approaches. The specific aims are: (1) to unify diverse functions of the retina under a common mathematical formalism, and use this to discover new functions; (2) to determine how our brain might process retinal signals for rapid understanding of a new scene; (3) to explain how our fine vision can be so acute, given that the eyes are never holding still. If successful, this research will offer benefits on multiple fronts. First, it will expand our notions of what a neural circuit like the retina can compute and how the information is encoded in its output, an important goal of systems neuroscience. Second, it will help resolve two mysteries of visual processing, relating to both its remarkable speed and its high acuity. Third, progress in these areas will benefit brain science in general. Many of the circuit motifs encountered in the retina are repeated in other brain areas, and may well serve similar network-level functions. Finally, an improved understanding of early visual function can change how one thinks about visual diseases and therapy. For example, it now appears that certain functions previously assigned to the visual cortex already happen in the retina; if so, then retinal dysfunction could also have much more elaborate effects on visual experience. Conversely, in efforts to treat retinal degeneration by electronic or genetic prostheses one needs to know which aspects of retinal function the prosthesis should emulate to support visual perception.