NEURAL CIRCUITS UNDERLYING SYMBOLIC PROCESSING IN PRIMATE CORTEX AND BASAL GANGLIA
Abstract
This MURI application combines a team of researchers from Boston University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Brown University in a project entitled: Neural Circuits Underlying Symbolic Processing in Primate Cortex and Basal Ganglia. The MURIapplication is submitted to the Office of Naval Research in Response to ONR-15-FOA-0011 ONR FY2015 MURI Topic #19.The research proposed here includes neurocomputational modeling and neurophysiologicalanalysis of neural circuit mechanisms for symbolic processing. Understanding the neural circuit mechanisms of symbolic processing could have an important influence on the capabilities of autonomous systems for DoD applications. The function of autonomous systems for defense purposes could be greatly enhanced by the capacity of symbolic processing, as the command structures for military defense commonly involve rule-like standing orders.Modeling of prefrontal cortical circuits indicates exciting new perspectives on the neural circuit mechanisms of symbolic processing, in which dynamic gating of neural interactions can be trained so as to allow manipulations of neural activity that depend upon previous neuralactivity. This allows rules to be rapidly learned to guide specific motor responses based upon the identity of a variety of different stimuli presented sequentially in different task roles. This framework allows a representation of hierarchical rule structures necessary to perform behavioral tasks such as those used to test rules in experimental studies in this application. The circuit models will be tested by obtaining neurophysiological data from the prefrontal cortex and basal ganglia in monkeys, using multiple single-unit recording techniques, and in human subjects,using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Experiments will test the differential involvement of prefrontal cortex and basal ganglia in gating activity necessary for performance of hierarchical rules. Experiments will also test the timing and location of neural activity in different subregions of the prefrontal cortex during different components of hierarchical ruleperformance to test these models of the circuit mechanisms within the prefrontal cortex.The projects proposed here will use computational modelling and neurophysiological experiments in monkeys and humans to analyse symbolic processing in different tasks including: 1. Hierarchical rule learning involving location cues coding the application and reversal of rules based on associations between specific visual cues. 2. Hierarchical rule learning guided by cuesregulating the focus on different dimensions of stimuli. 3. Tasks requiring responses based on temporal translation to make responses based on the time of individual stimuli. 4. Tasks involving application of rules in a variant of Raven~s progressive matrices.This research will be performed under the direction of Principal Investigator Prof. Michael Hasselmo who will oversee development of computational models of neural circuits involved in symbolic processing. Development of different models of symbolic processing will also beoverseen by Prof. Marc Howard at Boston University and by consultant Prof. Chris Eliasmith. Modeling predictions will be tested in experiments using multiple single-neuron recording and field potential recording in monkeys in the lab of Prof. Earl Miller in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Systems at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In addition, predictions ofthese models will be tested in neuroimaging experiments in the laboratories of Prof. ChantalStern in the Center for Systems Neuroscience at Boston University, and Prof. David Badre in the Department of Psychology at Brown University.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Nov 23, 2016
- Source ID
- N000141612832
Entities
People
- Michael Hasselmo
Organizations
- Boston University
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy