ATTENTION AND VOLUNTARY ACTION IN PREFRONTAL CORTEX
Project Number5R01MH059244-03
Contact PI/Project LeaderFERRERA, VINCENT P
Awardee OrganizationNEW YORK STATE PSYCHIATRIC INSTITUTE DBA RESEARCH FOUNDATION FOR MENTAL HYGIENE, INC
Description
Abstract Text
This proposal is concerned with how the brain constructs its
representation of visual space and how this representation is used in
movement planning and control. There are many views on the relationship
between visual-spatial awareness and voluntary action. One view is that
what we perceive as a unitary awareness is nothing more than the sum
total of a multitude of low-level sensory-motor programs interacting
with the physical world. Another view is that the brain explicitly
constructs a "mental workspace" or general purpose representation of
space which is independent of any particular effector system, and that
it uses this representation for motor planning. Attention and working
memory are important components of this high-level spatial
representation. What parts of the brain might be involving in forming
such a representation? One promising candidate is area 46 of prefrontal
cortex. Previous work has shown that area 46 neurons encode the
locations of behaviorally relevant visual stimuli and hold these
representations on-line during working memory tasks, including memory-
guided saccade tasks. The current proposal examines the relationship
between neuronal activity in area 46 and the programming of saccadic eye
movements and visually-guided arm movements. Three experiments will
address the following questions: 1) Are area 46 neurons capable of
providing the signals needed for saccade initiation and target
selection? 2) Is the representation of space in area 46 stable and
robust in the face of ongoing motor activity? 3) Can the activity of
individual neurons in area 46 support the planning of more than one type
of movement? The overall goal is to determine whether area 46 plays
specific role in the planning and execution of particular movements or
a more general role in providing a multi-purpose representation of space
that can be used by several effector systems as well as guiding covert
shifts of spatial attention.
The issues dealt with in this proposal are of practical importance to
sufferers of psychiatric disorders who lack the ability to maintain
appropriate control over their actions, and also those who are unable
to initiate or control voluntary movements due to Parkinson's disease,
stroke, epilepsy or other forms of neurological damage. The proposed
experiments should provide useful information about the cognitive and
motor function of prefrontal cortex. This will aid in the understanding
of frontal lobe diseases such as schizophrenia and frontal lobe
epilepsy.
No Sub Projects information available for 5R01MH059244-03
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