猕猴额叶皮层在空间运动感知中的贡献

项目名称： 猕猴额叶皮层在空间运动感知中的贡献

项目编号： No.31471048

项目类型： 面上项目

立项/批准年度： 2015

项目学科： 神经、认识与心理学

项目作者： 顾勇

作者单位： 中国科学院上海生命科学研究院

项目金额： 91万元

中文摘要： 精确判断机体自身在空间中运动的方向对于生命个体在自然环境中的生存无疑至关重要。心理物理学实验表明，人类可以通过贝叶斯最优化的方式整合多种感知觉信息包括前庭和视觉光流来提高空间感知的精度，但这一过程是如何通过大脑来实现的至今还不清楚。我们先前在非人灵长类上的电生理工作表明，猕猴背侧视觉通路中的内上颞区可以整合前庭和视觉光流信息，从而参与精确空间感知的形成，但微电流和药物失活实验表明这不是唯一的区域，提示空间运动感知是一个依赖于多脑区的行为。在本申请项目中，我们着重于研究位于额叶皮层的平滑眼动追踪区的贡献。我们提出，平滑眼动追踪区与内上颞区之间存在功能上的相互作用，两者一起贡献于机体对自身运动的精确判断。我们的研究提示，多种感知觉信息（前庭、视觉）很可能是在一个神经网络中汇聚，交流，整合，并最终优化精确的认知行为输出。

中文关键词： 电生理；猕猴；视觉运动；感知觉整合；空间感知

英文摘要： Precise estimation of self-motion, i.e. heading perception during natural navigation is critical for human beings and animals to survive in this world. Psychphysical experiments have shown that humans can integrate vestibular and visual optic flow signals in a statistically optimal way to improve heading estimation. Yet the underlying neural mechanisms are still unclear. Our previous work identified an area-the dorsal medial superior temporal sulcus (MST) could integrate inertial motion and optic flow signals to enhance its response, and account for the behavioral improvements. However, recent electrical microstimulation and reversible chemical inactivation experiments also indicated that area MST is not the only area involved. There should be other areas, particularly those more related to vestibular signals, also contribute to multisensory heading perception. In the current proposal, we focus on the smooth pursuit area of the frontal eye field in the frontal cortex (FEFsem). This area also carries robust inertial motion signals that are directly from the thalamus. It also has optic flow signal that may projecte from area MST. We hypothesize that area FEFsem could functionally communicate with area MST, and they work together to generate precise heading estimation. Our work is an important step towards revealing a complete network of heading perception, as well as discovering the neural mechanisms underlying Bayesian optimal cue integration.

英文关键词： electrophysiology;macaque;visual motion;multisensory;spatial perception