NEURAL MECHANISMS OF CUTANEOUS SPATIAL INTEGRATION

该项目旨在确定大脑皮层在大脑中的作用 灵长类的手的感觉功能。神经生理学和 心理物理技术将被用来检查躯体感觉如何 系统集成了皮肤上的空间信息。的贡献 手(帕西尼亚小体和迈斯纳小体)中的时相机械感受器 运动、纹理、大小、形状和方位的皮质加工 将使用计算机控制的OPTACON来研究触觉刺激 通常用作盲人阅读辅助器的刺激器。单人 在SI(3b、1和2区)、顶后(5区)进行的单位记录 和7b)，警觉猴的大脑皮质应该揭示了 对每个细胞建筑区域的空间模式进行分析，如 条纹、几何形状和字母数字字符、倍数研究 同一动物大脑中的战神将提供重要信息 关于串联和并行处理在大脑中的作用 用于特征分析的皮层。实验动物也将接受训练 使用可操作的行为技术和积极强化 区分运动方向、条宽和 方向以及图案形状，以便将信息联系起来 由大脑皮层神经元对同一动物的实际感觉进行编码。 在人类身上的平行心理物理实验将允许 刺激在人类和猴子身上产生的感觉。 这些实验解决的具体问题包括：(1)如何 大脑皮层神经元跨手指缝隙整合刺激运动？(2) 使用什么皮质机制来解决条纹之间的距离 在纹理模式中？(3)皮质细胞如何编码宽度、长度和 手或手指上扫描的条形图案的方向？(4)如何 机械感受器被激活的总数和刺激面积 在皮肤上，修改皮质反应？(5)多位数神经元如何 感受野整合空间信息？(6)运动如何影响 定向选择性？(7)串联和并行的作用是什么 大脑皮层中的触觉信息处理通道？(8) 触觉刺激的行为相关性如何改变大脑皮层 运动的形式、方向和方向的表示？这些研究 将提供有关触觉信息的重要神经生理学数据 大脑皮层这一功能性组织的处理能力 五个不同的细胞结构区域，以及 两个半球之间的信息。这些发现可能具有重要的意义 临床应用，如开发更多的定量检测 神经性疾病或外周疾病患者的感觉功能 神经损伤，以及感觉替代辅助手段的改进 视力和/或听力受损的个人。

This project is designed to determine the role of the cerebral cortex in the sensory function of the primate hand. Neurophysiological and psychophysical techniques will be used to examine how the somatosensory system integrates spatial information on the skin. The contribution of phasic mechanoreceptors in the hand (Pacinian and Meissner's corpuscles) to cortical processing of motion, texture, size, shape and orientation of tactile stimuli will be studies using a computer controlled OPTACON stimulator which normally serves as a reading aid for the blind. Single unit recordings made in SI (areas 3b, 1 and 2), posterior parietal (areas 5 and 7b), and SII cortex of alert monkeys should reveal the contributions of each cytoarchitectural area to the analysis of spatial patterns such as stripes, geometric forms and alphanumeric characters, Studies of multiples ares in the same animal's brain will provide important information concerning the role of serial and parallel processing in the cerebral cortex for feature analysis. Experimental animals will also be trained using operant behavioral techniques and positive reinforcement to discriminate features such as direction of motion, bar width and orientation, as well as pattern shape in order to relate the information coded by cortical neurons to actual sensory perception in the same animal. Parallel psychophysical experiments in humans will allow correlation of sensations produced by the stimulus in humans and monkeys. Specific problems addressed by these experiments include: (1) How do cortical neurons integrate stimulus motion across gaps on the fingers? (2) What cortical mechanisms are sued to resolve the distance between stripes in a texture pattern? (3) HOw do cortical cells code the width, length and orientation of bar patterns scanned across the hand or fingers? (4) How do the total number of mechanoreceptors activated, and the area of stimulation on the skin, modify cortical responses? (5) How do neurons with multidigit receptive fields integrate spatial information? (6) How does motion affect orientation selectivity? (7) What are the roles of serial and parallel channels for tactile information processing in the cerebral cortex? (8) How does behavioral relevance of tactile stimuli modify cortical representation of form, orientation and direction of motion? These studies will provide important neurophysiological data on the tactile information processing capabilities of the cerebral cortex, the functional organization of five different cytoarchitectural areas, and the integration of information between the two hemispheres. The findings may have important clinical applications such as the development of more quantitative tests of sensory function in patients with neurological disorders or peripheral nerve injuries, and the improvement of sensory substitution aids for visually and/or hearing impaired individuals.