Unsupervised neuronal and perceptual learning of invariant object representation

描述（申请人提供）：视觉对象识别（分类和识别）是人类生存最基本的认知功能之一。下颞叶皮层（IT）是通往大脑决策和记忆中心的门户，它以一种很大程度上容忍（“不变”）物体的确切位置、大小、姿势、照明和杂乱的方式传达视觉对象和类别信息。我们最近发现，一种类型的公差-位置公差-可以通过有针对性地操纵自然视觉经验的统计而迅速改变。这种新发现的神经元学习类型表明，IT从自然视觉体验的时空连续性中学习容忍度，因为在自然视觉过程中，同一物体的不同图像往往会在我们的视网膜上平滑地呈现出来。本提案的首要目标是研究自然视觉经验在塑造IT对象表征中的作用，以及该经验在相同受试者（非人类灵长类动物）中的感知后果。动物将在人为改变的视觉世界中获得经验，在这个世界中，我们对它们的视觉经验的时空连续性进行了特定的改变。我们将通过单电极记录和物体识别任务间歇地测量动物的IT神经元位置耐受性和感知耐受性，以跟踪该经验产生的任何变化。我们的第一个目的是检查IT位置容忍度的定向、经验驱动的变化是否伴随着特定的、稳定的物体感知变化。我们的第二个目标是检查自然获得的时空经验是否指导对其他保持身份的图像变化（物体大小，3D姿势）的容忍度（“不变性”）的学习。总之，结果将阐明无监督经验在“不变”对象表示发展中的潜在关键作用。IT直接投射到负责决策、行动和记忆的大脑区域，因此对IT对象表示的理解使我们能够理解记忆和认知的基本构建块。它类似于人脑中的结构：枕侧复合体区域（LOC）、梭状面区（FFA）和海马体旁区（PPA）都与物体、面孔和地点的处理有关。识别缺陷是许多神经系统疾病的症状：例如失认症、阿尔茨海默氏症、自闭症、阅读障碍，因此了解识别过程背后的电路可能有助于深入了解这些疾病。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Visual object recognition (categorization and identification) is one of the most fundamental cognitive functions for our survival. The inferior temporal cortex (IT) is the gateway to brain's decision and memory centers and it conveys visual object and category information in a manner that is largely tolerant ("invariant") to the exact position, size, pose of the object, illumination, and clutter. We recently found that one type of tolerance ~ position tolerance ~ can be rapidly altered by targeted manipulation of the statistics of natural visual experience. This newly discovered type of neuronal learning suggests that IT learns tolerance from the spatiotemporal contiguity of natural visual experience, as different images of the same object tend to play out smoothly on our retina during natural vision. The overarching goal of this proposal is to examine the role of natural visual experience in shaping the IT object representation, and the perceptual consequences of that experience in the same subjects (non-human primates). Animals will acquire experience in an artificially altered visual world where we make specific changes to the spatiotemporal contiguity of their visual experience. Intermittently, we will measure animals' IT neuronal position tolerance and perceptual tolerance by means of single-electrode recording and object discrimination task to track any changes produced by that experience. Our first aim is to examine whether the targeted, experience-driven changes in IT position tolerance is accompanied by specific, stable changes in object perception. Our second aim is to examine whether the naturally acquired spatiotemporal experience instructs learning of tolerance ("invariance") to other identity-preserving image variations (object size, 3D pose). Together, the outcome will elucidate the potentially key role of unsupervised experience in the development of "invariant" object representation. IT projects directly to brain areas responsible for decision, action, and memory, thus an understanding of the IT object representation allows us to understand the basic building blocks of memory and cognition. IT is analogous to structures in the human brain: area Lateral Occipital Complex (LOC), Fusiform Face Area (FFA), and Parahippocampal Place Area (PPA) have been implicated in the processing of objects, faces, and places. Deficits in recognition are symptoms of many neurological disorders: e.g., agnosia, Alzheimer's, autism, dyslexia, thus an understanding of the circuitry underlying the recognition process is likely to provide insight into their conditions.