Cortical substrates of tactile and multisensory processing

我的研究计划有两个中心重点：表征人类体感皮层的空间组织和处理特征，以及了解这些体感信息如何与其他感觉信息相结合，以解决涉及运动和模式感知的多感觉任务。在过去的五年里，我一直在使用功能性磁共振成像（fMRI）来定位人类大脑中处理体感信息的皮质区域。例如，我使用我开发的用于功能磁共振成像环境的气动刺激技术，检查了人类体感皮层（即体感体topy）中特定身体部位（面部和手指）的表征。我还进行了研究，检查触觉对象和面部感知的神经基质。我将在拟议的研究中追求两个一般主题。首先，我想通过研究触觉刺激的时间方面如何调节这些区域的活动来继续研究体感觉皮层和相关皮质区域的功能特征。其次，我想探索不同的感官信号（视觉和触觉）如何相互作用以实现特定的行为目标。我将使用心理物理技术来探索这些问题，目的是将这些技术引入神经影像学的背景下。这项研究不仅有助于我们理解在触觉刺激过程中人类顶叶和相关皮层内产生的信号的性质，而且还将提供有关触觉信号如何与其他感官信号相结合以解决多感官任务的信息。

My research program has two central thrusts: to characterize the spatial organization and processing features of human somatosensory cortex and to understand how such somatosensory information is combined with other sensory information to solve multisensory tasks involving motion and pattern perception.   Over the past five years I have been using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to functionally localize cortical regions in the human brain that process somatosensory information. For example, I have examined the representation of particular body parts (face and fingers) in human somatosensory cortex (i.e., somatosensory somatotopy) using a pneumatic stimulation technique that I developed for use in the fMRI environment.  I have also conducted studies examining the neural substrates of haptic object and face perception. I will pursue two general themes in the proposed research.   First, I want to continue investigating the functional characteristics of somatosensory cortex and related cortical regions by investigating how temporal aspects of tactile stimulation modulate activity in these regions.  Second, I would like to explore how different sensory signals (visual and tactile) interact to achieve particular behavioural goals. I will use psychophysical techniques to explore these questions with the aim of importing such techniques into a neuroimaging context. The work outlined in this grant will contribute not only to our understanding of the nature of the signals arising within human parietal and associated cortex during tactile stimulation, but it will also provide information about how tactile signals are combined with other sensory signals to solve multisensory tasks.