An investigation of rest-stimulus interactions in mesoscale cortical networks

传统上，对大脑功能的研究主要集中在纯粹的任务诱发反应上。然而，我们知道，即使在没有活跃行为或感觉刺激的情况下，大脑也存在着一种深刻的持续活动状态。这项提议的中心目标是调查休息状态或自发的大脑活动如何积极地促进我们如何处理感觉信息，并从感知和行为的角度来理解这些过程。了解这些休息-刺激的相互作用对于确定我们如何在理想化的、信号平均的实验室环境中没有反映的“真实世界”条件下处理感觉信息至关重要。这项研究计划采用了前沿的神经成像方法，使用光来监测大脑。重要的是，这种方法允许对小鼠大脑的几乎整个表面进行功能成像，从而使我们能够捕获与休息状态和感觉处理相关的大规模大脑网络的电活动。这对于理解休息-刺激相互作用是至关重要的，因为我们现在知道，大脑运行在不同的活动模块中，这些模块分布在大脑各个区域。众所周知，这些分布式模块可以主动调节感觉处理。因此，为了真正理解休息-刺激相互作用，我们必须能够监控这一活动的分布式组织。我将研究与触觉、视觉和听觉相关的大规模功能组织和感觉激活活动，以及正在进行的自发大脑活动。通过有选择地操纵自发的大脑活动，我将确定这种活动如何改变我们处理感觉信息的方式。最后，我将调查这种关系的反面是如何也是正确的。也就是说，感觉刺激可以改变自发的大脑活动，影响到我们的大脑如何适应不断变化的感觉环境。这项研究计划通过将微观电生理研究的开创性工作与全球大脑网络变化联系起来，解决了我们对休息-刺激相互作用的理解上的一个重大差距。这项研究提案将提供对休息-刺激相互作用及其在塑造我们对感觉信息的感知中的作用以及我们如何适应不断变化的感觉环境的更深层次的理解。

Traditionally investigations into brain function have focused on purely task-evoked responses. However, we know the brain exists in a state of profound constant activity even in the absence of active behaviours or sensory stimulation. The central goal of this proposal is to investigate how resting-state or spontaneous brain activity actively contributes to how we process sensory information with the longer-term goals of understanding these processes in the context of perception and behaviour. Understanding these rest-stimulus interactions are essential for determining how we process sensory information in `real world' conditions that are not reflected in idealized, signal averaged laboratory environments. This research program employs leading-edge neuroimaging approaches using light to monitor brain. Importantly, this approach allows for functional imaging of nearly the entire surface of the brain in mice and thus allows us to capture the electrical activity of large-scale brain networks related resting-states and sensory processing. This is essential for understanding rest-stimulus interactions as we now know that the brain operates in distinct modules of activity that are distributed across brain regions. These distributed modules are known to actively regulate sensory processing. Thus, in order to truly understand rest-stimulus interactions we must be able to monitor the distributed organization of this activity. I will examine the large-scale functional organization and activity of sensory activation related to touch, vision, and audition with ongoing spontaneous brain activity. By selectively manipulating spontaneous brain activity, I will determine how this activity changes how we process sensory information. Lastly, I will investigate how the reverse of this relationship is also true. That is, sensory stimulation can modify spontaneous brain activity with implications on how our brains adapt to optimize to our changing sensory environment. This research program addresses a significant gap in our understanding of rest-stimulus interactions by bridging pioneering work from microscopic electrophysiological studies and global brain network changes. This research proposal will provide a deeper understanding of rest-stimulus interactions and their role in shaping our perception of sensory information and how we adapt to our changing sensory environment.