Neural basis of Visual Attention

描述(申请人提供)：从杂乱的自然环境中选择相关信息进行进一步处理是指导行为的最基本的认知能力之一。当注意力选择机制失效时，这一点变得非常明显，例如患有ADHD的人，中风后经常观察到的视觉空间偏瘫，以及精神分裂症。来自生理学和脑功能成像研究的综合证据表明，选择性注意在视觉系统内外的多个处理阶段调节神经活动。这是我们资助的“人类视觉皮质中的注意机制”的延续项目(1 RO1-MH64043)。上一次资助期间的研究以人类外侧膝状核(LGN)和视觉皮质区域的注意功能为特征。这些研究和其他研究表明，视觉选择性注意可以被认为是一个由皮质下和皮质下脑区的分布式网络介导的多水平选择过程。本研究应用偏向竞争理论的假设，将这项工作扩展到研究视觉系统和额顶注意网络之间的神经加工的相互作用。这项研究计划的长期目标是确定灵长类大脑视觉选择性注意的神经机制。这一目标是在我们的实验室通过多模式方法实现的，其中包括对人和猴子的功能磁共振成像(FMRI)和行为测量，以及对猴子的侵入性电生理学。在目前的应用中，我们使用创新的高分辨率和超分辨率fMRI方法来关注人脑中的注意机制。我们建议研究大脑大细胞和小细胞LGN(SA#1)的注意调节，知觉组织对有偏竞争的影响(SA#2)，以及跨从属于视觉注意的神经结构的高阶选择控制(SA#3)。这项拟议的研究旨在促进我们对调节人脑注意功能的神经机制和网络结构的理解。理解选择性注意的基本机制的进展是开发有效的注意力缺陷治疗策略的第一个必要步骤。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The selection of relevant information from cluttered natural environments for further processing is one of the most fundamental cognitive abilities for guiding behavior. This becomes strikingly clear when attentional selection mechanisms fail, such as in individuals afflicted with ADHD, visuo-spatial hemineglect that is often observed following stroke, and schizophrenia. Converging evidence from physiology and functional brain imaging studies reveals that selective attention modulates neural activity at multiple processing stages within the visual system and beyond. This is a continuation project of our grant "Mechanisms of attention in the human visual cortex" (1 RO1-MH64043). Work during the previous funding period has characterized attentional functions of the human lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) and visual cortical areas. These and other studies indicate that visual selective attention can be considered a multilevel selection process mediated by a distributed network of subcortical and cortical brain areas. The present application extends this work to investigate interactions of neural processing between the visual system and the fronto-parietal attention network with hypotheses derived from biased competition theory. The long-term goal of this research program is to identify the neural mechanisms underlying visual selective attention in the primate brain. This goal is pursued in our laboratory in a multi-modal methods approach that includes functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and behavioral measures in humans and monkeys, and invasive electrophysiology in monkeys. In the present application, we focus on attention mechanisms operating in the human brain using innovative high- and super-resolution fMRI methods. We propose to study attentional modulation of the magno- and parvocellular LGN (SA #1), influences of perceptual organization on biased competition (SA #2), and higher-order control of selection (SA #3) across the neural architecture that subserves visual attention. The proposed research is aimed at advancing our understanding of the neural mechanisms and the network architecture that mediates attentional functions in the human brain. Progress in understanding the basic mechanisms of selective attention is a first necessary step in developing effective treatment strategies for attentional deficits.