Robert John Schafer - US grants

[unreadable] DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Adaptive decision-making requires both attention to relevant environmental stimuli and accurate estimation of the consequences of possible actions. Disruption of these processes is devastating to mental health, and is common to numerous mental disorders including schizophrenia, addiction, obsessive-compulsive disorders, and attention-deficit disorders. Despite the importance of attention and choice option valuation, little is known about the neural mechanisms that underlie these processes, and ultimately drive decisions. The proposed research will describe the attentional dynamics that underlie and influence choice valuation, and will thus provide a better understanding of the human decision-making process. First, through electrophysiological recording of attention-related signals in monkey prefrontal cortex, we will examine how attentional resources are divided and dynamically allocated between two visual targets. While current models of human divided attention address the ability to attend to two spatially distinct stimuli, the underlying mechanisms and temporal dynamics behind divided attention are still a mystery. By understanding precisely how information is continuously gathered from two visual targets, we will begin to understand how two or more choice options can be valuated and compared during a value-based choice. Next, by examining these attentional dynamics during a choice itself and modulating spatial attention with electrical microstimulation of prefrontal cortex, we will determine how attention interacts with option valuation during a value-based choice. Recent research and numerous choice models suggest that an object's valuation depends greatly on the attentional resources allocated to it. By monitoring attention signals during a choice we can address this hypothesis, and by experimentally modulating attention with microstimulation we will attempt to directly affect the valuation process. The grand product of this work will be a mechanistic model of the role of attention in a value-based decision. The results will impact our knowledge of healthy, adaptive decision-making as well as the disorders that can devastate this complex behavior. Schizophrenia, addiction, and attention-deficit disorders affect millions of Americans, and share a common trait: the disruption of the pathway required to attend to, valuate, and make the best choice out of many options. This research will investigate how the attention and valuation processes occur and interact in the brain, providing a strong foundation from which to study these mental disorders. [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable]

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): When people view everyday scenes, their visual systems encounter far more information than can be fully processed. The brain uses attentional mechanisms to select important visual objects and filter out those that might be distracting. Mounting evidence suggests that the pulvinar nucleus of the thalamus plays a critical role in vision and attention, but its specific function is not understood. The pulvinar is interconnected with virtually the entire visual system, and is ideally situated to regulate visual cortical processing according to attentional demands. This proposal seeks to test the involvement of the pulvinar in regulating cortical processing during vision and attention. The first step toward this goal will be to characterize the interactions between neurons in the primate pulvinar and visual cortex using simultaneous, multi-site electrophysiological recording. By recording from dozens of sites within the pulvinar, visual cortical area V4, and inferior temporal cortex (IT), it will b possible to compare the timecourse of attentional modulation in each brain area, and measure functional interactions between neurons within and across areas. The timing of attentional effects, as well as the magnitude and directionality of neuronal interactions, will provide valuabl information about the function of the pulvinar and its connections with visual cortex. To test the causal role of the pulvinar in attentional control, novel optogenetics tools will then be used to transiently silence pulvinar neurons during visual attention. The nature of any deficits or differences in cortical activity during pulvinar silencing will highlight the contributions of the pulvinar to normal visual processes. The results of the proposed experiments will not only help the understanding of human attentional disorders, but also aid the development of advanced neural stimulation methods for use in visual prostheses for people with impaired vision. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Understanding the interactions between neurons during vision and attention will give important insight into the nature of attentional disorders and visual impairment. Furthermore, the development and use of new optogenetic tools for precisely manipulating neural activity will contribute to the design and creation of advanced visual prostheses.