Prefrontal and Medial-Temporal Interactions in Memory

描述(由申请人提供)：神经科学中的一个基本挑战是理解主要大脑区域如何作为一个系统共同运作，以支持高级认知功能。特别是，对理解精神障碍非常重要的一个系统涉及前额叶(PFC)和内侧颞叶(MTL)，每个系统都有助于记忆和认知的高级功能。近年来，在揭示和平与合作委员会和多边贸易法领域内各个领域的单独职能方面取得了重大进展，并在表明这些领域共同努力方面取得了一些成功。然而，关于PFC和MTL在记忆和认知中相互作用的机制还知之甚少。在这里，我们聚集了一群研究人员，他们使用不同的方法和不同的物种，领导了对PFC和MTL的研究，或者两者都有。我们合作开发了PFC-MTL相互作用的假说，旨在整合我们的优势，揭示这种相互作用的机制，并通过这样做，开创对记忆和认知的真正系统水平的理解。我们的策略结合了我们小组生成的PFC和MTL函数的理论与协调的实验分析，这些分析集中在一个共同的行为范式上，用于探索上下文引导的联想记忆中的编码和提取操作。实验项目将使用不同和交叉的方法，研究PFC和MTL区如何单独和相互作用：在人类，使用大脑受损个体的神经心理学研究和正常受试者的功能磁共振；在猴子，使用单个神经元活动和局部场电位的神经生理学研究；在大鼠，使用非空间和空间记忆的神经生理学和可逆失活研究。研究结果将以两种关键方式结合起来，通过分析核心直接比较不同的数据模式，并汇聚到一个计算模型中，提供一个全面和统一的关于PFC-MTL相互作用的说明。该中心还将追求几个直接相关的教育、传播和推广目标。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): A fundamental challenge in neuroscience is understanding of how major brain areas operate together as a system to support high level cognitive functions. In particular, one system of great importance to the understanding of mental disorders involves the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and the medial temporal lobe (MTL) that each contribute to high level functions in memory and cognition. In recent years, there has been significant progress in revealing the individual functions of areas within the PFC and MTL, and some successes in showing that these areas work together. However, there is a paucity of knowledge about the mechanisms by which PFC and MTL interact in the service of memory and cognition. Here we bring together a group of investigators who have led research on PFC and MTL, or both, using diverse approaches and different species. We have collaborated to develop an hypothesis of PFC-MTL interactions and aim to integrate our strengths towards revealing the mechanisms of that interaction, and in so doing, pioneer a true systems level understanding of memory and cognition. Our strategy combines theories of PFC and MTL function generated by our group with coordinated experimental analyses that converge on a common behavioral paradigm for exploring encoding and retrieval operations in context-guided associative memory. Experimental projects will examine how PFC and MTL areas contribute individually and interactively, using diverse and intersecting approaches: in humans, using both neuropsychological studies of brain damaged individuals and fMRI on normal human subjects, in monkeys using neurophysiological studies of single neuron activity and local field potentials, in rats using combined neurophysiological and reversible inactivation studies of non-spatial and spatial memory. The findings will be integrated in two key ways, by direct comparison of different data modalities through an Analysis Core and by convergence into a computational model that provides a comprehensive and unified account of PFC-MTL interactions. The Center will also pursue several directly related educational, dissemination, and outreach goals.