The neural mechanisms responsible for recognizing and remembering novel objects and scenes

 描述(由申请者提供)：我们记忆图像和场景的能力是非凡的--我们可以在观看数千张图像后正确地确定我们以前是否见过一张图像，每张图像只有几秒钟。支持视觉“熟悉”记忆的神经过程被认为是在支持视觉对象“识别”的大脑区域实现的，但人们对两者都知之甚少。视觉熟悉记忆的损害，包括那些伴随着痴呆症等障碍的损害，会导致严重的无法识别自己的家人或家。这项建议中描述的实验利用了新的技术，使我们能够监测神经群体的反应，以研究如何在单一图像曝光中使“新奇”的图像变得“熟悉”。首先，我们将确定不同脑区对视觉熟悉记忆的相对贡献，包括V4、IT和周边皮质。接下来，我们将确定视觉物体识别和视觉熟悉记忆是否以及如何由相同的神经回路支持。最后，我们将测试熟悉性记忆存储是否包括一种机制，该机制可以抑制对引发弱视觉反应的图像的记忆，并放大那些强视觉反应的图像。这些结果将对视觉熟悉记忆的神经机制提供重要的见解，并有可能为治疗熟悉记忆障碍提供靶点。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Our ability to remember the images and scenes that we have encountered is remarkable - we can correctly determine whether we have seen an image before after viewing thousands, each only for a few seconds. The neural processes that support visual "familiarity" memory are thought to be implemented in the same brain areas as those that support visual object "recognition", but both are poorly understood. Impairments in visual familiarity memory, including those that accompany disorders such as dementia, lead to devastating inabilities to recognize one's own family or home. The experiments described in this proposal take advantage of new techniques that allow us to monitor neural population responses to study how "novel" images become "familiar" across single image exposures. First, we will determine the relative contributions of different brain regions to visual familiarity memor, including V4, IT and perirhinal cortex. Next, we will determine whether and how visual object recognition and visual familiarity memory are supported by the same neural circuits. Finally, we will test whether familiarity memory storage includes a mechanism that suppresses memories of images that elicit weak visual responses and amplifies those that are strong. These results will provide crucial insights into the neural mechanisms responsible for visual familiarity memory and they have the potential to suggest targets for the treatment of familiarity memory dysfunction.