Readout and control of spatiotemporal neuronal codes for behavior

资助项目概要 为了生存，生物体必须准确地代表外部世界的刺激，并利用这些刺激， 表示以产生有益的行为动作。从历史上看，这两个过程- 从刺激到神经反应的映射，以及从神经活动到行为的映射， 大部分是分开处理的。两者中，前者受到的关注最多。通常称 被称为“神经编码问题”，其目标是确定神经活动的哪些特征携带 关于外部刺激的信息。这种方法导致了许多经验和理论的建议 关于神经群体活动的空间和时间特征，或“神经代码”， 感官信息然而，对于大多数感觉刺激的神经编码仍然没有达成共识 在神经系统的大部分区域。缺乏共识的部分原因是， 确定了神经群体反应的某些特征携带关于特定刺激的信息， 目前还不清楚大脑是否使用（“读取”）这些特征中的信息来形成感觉。 感知我们已经开发了一个理论框架，基于编码和 读出来，来解决这个问题。实验性地告知这个框架需要操纵 神经元活动的模式基于它们的自然放电，并且与它们的自然放电在相同的时空尺度上 在感官知觉中的模式。这项工作必须在行为动物中进行，因为它是必不可少的 来了解哪些神经编码指导行为决策。在该项目的第一阶段（由 BRAIN Initiative），我们开发了实现这一目标所需的技术。 在本提案中，我们将进一步探索我们的模式化神经元刺激技术 在母公司U19下开发，以回答有关神经编码的悬而未决的问题， 嗅觉系统中的读数，在母裁决下至今仍未解决。我们将 开创了确定细胞群中神经动力学编码的能力 行为相关的信息，并确定这些细胞之间的功能连接 构成这个人口。我们还将开发工具和分析方法， 用全息光刺激来探测这些动力学，以确定它们如何引导 行为最后，我们将研究行为状态变化和过程中的神经编码原则 学习确定内部环境和经验如何塑造编码和读出。的贡献 拟议的工作将有三个方面。首先，我们将使用和开发来自母公司U19的工具， 测试神经群如何在整个大脑中编码和解码信息的理论。第二、 我们将揭示嗅觉中时空神经编码和读出的基本原理 行为动物系统使用我们的数据在父母的奖励下作为一个跳跃点。第三， 将开创分析这些新数据集的理论框架。

SUMMARY OF THE FUNDED PROJECT To survive, organisms must both accurately represent stimuli in the outside world and use that representation to generate beneficial behavioral actions. Historically, these two processes – the mapping from stimuli to neural responses, and the mapping from neural activity to behavior – have largely been treated separately. Of the two, the former has received the most attention. Often referred to as the “neural coding problem,” its goal is to determine which features of neural activity carry information about external stimuli. This approach has led to many empirical and theoretical proposals about the spatial and temporal features of neural population activity, or “neural codes,” that represent sensory information. However, there is still no consensus about the neural code for most sensory stimuli in most areas of the nervous system. The lack of consensus arises in part because, while it is established that certain features of neural population responses carry information about specific stimuli, it is unclear whether the brain uses (“reads”) the information in these features to form sensory perceptions. We have developed a theoretical framework, based on the intersection of coding and readout, to approach this problem. Experimentally informing this framework requires manipulating patterns of neuronal activity based on, and at the same spatiotemporal scale as, their natural firing patterns during sensory perception. This work must be done in behaving animals because it is essential to know which neural codes guide behavioral decisions. In the first phase of this project (funded by the BRAIN Initiative), we developed the technology necessary for realizing this goal. In the present proposal, we will further explore our patterned neuronal stimulation technology developed under the parent U19 to answer outstanding questions about neural coding and readout in the olfactory system that remain unaddressed to date under the parent award. We will pioneer the capacity to determine what neural dynamics within a population of cells are encoding behaviorally relevant information, and to determine the functional connectivity between these cells constituting this population. We will also develop tools and analysis methods to make targeted perturbations with holographic photostimulation to probe these dynamics to determine how they guide behavior. Finally, we will study neural coding principles across changes in behavioral state and during learning to determine how internal context and experience shape coding and readout. The contributions of the proposed work will be three-fold. First, we will both use and develop tools from the parent U19 to test theories of how neural populations encode and decode information throughout the brain. Second, we will reveal fundamental principles of spatiotemporal neural coding and readout in the olfactory systems of behaving animals using our data under the parent award to as a jumping off point. And third, theoretical frameworks for analyzing these novel data set will be pioneered.