The neural basis of sequential control in human and non-human primates

项目总结（见说明）： 视觉注意是一种一般的信息收集机制，对认知、情感和知觉发展至关重要。视觉场景中充斥着无法一次性管理的信息。视觉注意的作用是在这样的场景中组织眼睛注视模式，从而支持信息收集，感知和学习的第一步。虽然视觉注意力发展的时间已经被理解，但其发展背后的解释变量并不为人所知。这个项目的目的是表征变量，有助于典型和非典型的视觉注意。先前的研究结果与视觉注意和计算视觉导致的假设，视觉加工的完整性是视觉注意的发展是根本的。患有自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）的个体及其有风险的婴儿兄弟姐妹表现出非典型的视觉和注意力能力。我们假设ASD患者视觉注意力的差异是非典型视觉处理的结果。这项提议将在这些技能出现的婴儿期检验这一假设，然后从儿童期到成年期，随着这些技能的不断完善。我们将使用标准的注意力和视觉功能任务，结合行为眼动追踪和神经成像方法来测试我们的预测。这项工作有可能为理解ASD背后的行为和神经回路发展中的关键和基础中断提供基础。

PROJECT SUMMARY (See instructions): Visual attention is a general information gathering mechanism that is central to cognitive, emotional, and perceptual development. Visual scenes are cluttered with more information than can be managed at once. The role of visual attention is to organize eye gaze patterns in such scenes, thereby supporting the first step in information gathering, perception, and learning. Although the timing of the development of visual attention is understood, the explanatory variables that underlie its development are not well known. This project aims to characterize the variables that contribute to typical and atypical visual attention. Previous findings related to visual attention and computational vision lead to the hypothesis that integrity of visual processing is fundamental to the development of visual attention. Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and their at-risk infant siblings show both atypical visual and attentional abilities. We hypothesize that differences in visual attention in ASD are a result of atypical visual processing. This proposal will test this hypothesis in infancy when these skills emerge, and then from childhood through adulthood as these skills continue to refine. We will test our predictions using standard attention and visual function tasks, in concert with behavioral eye-tracking and neuroimaging methods. This work has the potential to provide a foundation for understanding what may be a pivotal and foundational disruption in behavioral and neural circuitry development underlying ASD.