The Neurophysiology of visual memory

描述(申请人提供)：如果你闭上眼睛，你仍然可以想象你周围的世界，闭上眼睛指的是世界上物体的空间位置。患有顶叶皮质病变的患者存在视觉记忆缺陷，闭着眼睛无法定位世界上的物体。我们已经发现，在几次试验中，顶叶外侧区域的神经元保持着对环境中物体的记忆。当受试者进行扫视，将记忆物体的空间位置带入神经元的接受场时，神经元的反应就像物体仍然在那里一样，尽管潜伏期更长，反应较弱(尽管仍然显著)。这项提议的目的是确定这种环境记忆所依赖的大脑区域。我们将考察三个候选区域的作用：额叶眼场、海马旁回和初级躯体感觉皮质的眼位区域。 与公共健康相关：正常人对其所处环境有详细的视觉记忆。闭上眼睛，它们可以指着环境中的物体，或者描述熟悉的地方。顶叶病变的患者不能做到这一点，缺乏动作的视觉记忆干扰了他们的康复潜力。这项建议试图了解负责这种环境记忆的基本神经生理学，以便更好地规划康复策略。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): If you close your eyes you can still image the world around you, and, with your eyes closed point to the spatial location of objects in the world. Patients with lesions of the parietal cortex have deficits in visual memory, and cannot locate objects in the world with their eyes closed. We have discovered that neurons in the lateral intraparietal area, a region in the parietal lobe, maintain a memory of objects in the environment across several trials. When a subject makes a saccade that brings the spatial location of a remembered object into the receptive field of a neuron, the neuron responds as if the object were still there, although with a longer latency and lesser (although still significant) response. The aims of this proposal are to determine the brain areas upon which this environmental memory depends. We will examine the role of three candidates: the frontal eye field, the parahippocampal gyrus, and the eye position region of primary somatosensory cortex. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Normal humans have a detailed visual memory of their environment. With their eyes closed they can point to objects in their environment, or describe familiar places. Patients with lesions of the parietal lobe cannot do this, and the absence of visual memory for action interferes with their rehabilitative potential. This proposal seeks to understand the basic neurophysiology responsible for this environmental memory, in order better to be able to plan rehabilitative strategies.