自然界信号的1/f特征和感觉神经系统响应特性

众多实验证据表明,大脑感觉神经系统对自然信号的处理比对人工信号有着更高的效率,这可以理解为是自然进化的结果.那么大脑神经系统究竟是"适应"了自然信号的哪种统计特性?或者说神经元或神经网络信息处理的数学函数究竟对应什么样的自然信号特性,使得其可以发挥最大的响应性能?搞清楚这个问题对于理解大脑工作机制和发展类脑人工智能具有重要意义.与此相应,本研究组了解到自然界信号普遍存在着一种统计特性—1/f特征,即信号的功率谱能量密度P(f)随频率f增加而依幂律下降,其关系可以被描述为P(f)~1/f~β,(β~=1).例如,自然界的花草树木景色、海水的流速、心脏跳动、音乐、语言、大脑脑电信号等均呈现出1/f特征.虽然至今1/f特征产生的物理机制仍然是个迷,但很显然,研究清楚大脑神经系统如何响应1/f信号特征,以及理解大脑脑电信号形成1/f特征的神经过程,对于理解大脑对自然界信号的神经信息处理和信号表征机制至关重要.本文将回顾这一研究方向的相关实验和理论证据.     

连续语音的神经编码——脑电图、脑磁图研究进展

语音是人类交流的主要方式,语音理解也是人脑特有的核心认知功能。人脑中的动态神经活动如何编码连续语音流的声学特征,并解析出多个层级的语言结构是认知神经科学领域的重要问题。近年来,一系列脑电图、脑磁图研究通过包络跟踪响应、层级跟踪响应等新指标来刻画连续语音的神经加工机制。本文对这些研究进行综述,并聚焦于对两个语音加工问题:一是大脑如何编码语音中连续变化的声学特征。这方面的研究表明,大脑中的低频神经活动可以动态跟踪语音包络并且受到高级认知功能调节。二是大脑如何表征语音中不同大小的语言单元,比如音节、词、短语、语句。研究显示,大脑皮层中不同时间尺度的神经活动分别跟踪不同大小的语言单元,构成对多层级语言单元的并行表征。综合上述,近期研究初步揭示了大脑如何表征连续语音的声学特征并构建不同层次的语言单元,为进一步研究大脑如何加工连续语音提供了新的思路。     

听觉皮层信号处理

听觉系统和视觉系统的不同之处在于：听觉系统在外周感受器和听皮层间具有更长的皮层下通路和更多的突触联系。该特殊结构反应了听觉系统从复杂听觉环境中提取与行为相关信号的机制与其他感觉系统不同。听皮层神经信号处理包括两种重要的转换机制,声音信号的非同构转换以及从声音感受到知觉层面的转换。听觉皮层神经编码机制同时也受到听觉反馈和语言或发声过程中发声信号的调控。听觉神经科学家和生物医学工程师所面临的挑战便是如何去理解大脑中这些转换的编码机制。我将会用我实验室最近的一些发现来阐述听觉信号是如何在原听皮层中进行处理的,并讨论其对于言语和音乐在大脑中的处理机制以及设计神经替代装置诸如电子耳蜗的意义。我们使用了结合神经电生理技术和量化工程学的方法来研究这些问题。     

血管舒张因子NO在神经-血管偶联过程中扩散动力学的仿真建模

神经-血管偶联机制至今还没有完全被阐明.对脑微循环的研究表明,位于皮层内的微动脉的舒张代表着神经-血管偶联过程中的最初血流响应机制.一氧化氮(NO)被认为是介导微动脉舒张的最重要因子之一,为了探讨NO在微动脉舒张过程中作为关键因子的作用,本文开展了基于大脑功能柱水平,由功能刺激产生的NO在神经-血管偶联过程中扩散动力学的时空模式的仿真建模研究.在大脑功能柱形态分析的基础上,建立NO扩散数学模型.应用该模型,清晰地阐述了由功能刺激产生的NO在时间维度和空间维度的扩散过程.计算机仿真结果表明,由功能刺激产生的NO,其扩散主要被限制在功能柱内.因此,NO作用的影响区域也就被限制在功能柱内.在时间维度上,NO信号大约维持1s左右.本研究从四维时空角度探讨由功能刺激产生的血管舒张因子的响应模式,为最终阐明神经-血管偶联机制提供了一种新的途径.     

大鼠皮质脊髓束神经电信号的记录与分析方法研究

目的：探索皮质脊髓束（CST）电生理信号的采集记录方法,分析描述电信号的特征,从而为通过植入式微电极阵列进行信号采集的记录方法建立一定的实验基础,为将来进一步研究脊髓损伤修复与功能重建提供有价值的神经电生理基础资料。方法：使用神经信号采集处理系统（Cerebus System）,在SD大鼠的脊髓T8节段处的皮质脊髓束内通过插入微电极,记录大鼠皮质脊髓束神经电信号。利用神经信号分析软件Offline Sorter、Neuroexplorer对已存储的信号文件进行波形特点的描述,包括波长、波幅、放电频率、同一电极上记录到的不同放电单元之间的同步性、两根电极上记录到的不同放电单元之间的同步性、放电信号的峰间期（ISI）分析等。结果：长时间稳定记录到连续的皮质脊髓束自发放电信号,一般在同一电极上记录到3~4个来自不同放电单位（细胞）的放电信号。皮质脊髓束自发放电信号的波形呈双向型,波宽为0.6~1.3 ms,波幅为百μV级。在多次实验状态下均能达到很高的信噪比,信号采集效果理想。经快蓝（LFB）染色确认记录电极尖端位于皮质脊髓束内。结论：本实验采用Cere-bus神经信号采集处理系统,利用记录电极可在大鼠的皮质脊髓束内较长时间稳定地记录到较为稳定的微伏级神经电信号,并可进行有意义的神经电信号特征分析,为进一步研究脊髓损伤修复与功能重建提供了有价值的神经电生理基础资料。     

纹状皮质细胞的数学模型

有关视觉信息在神经系统,特别是视皮质(纹状皮质)中处理机制的研究,无论对脑功能研究或工程学应用均有较大意义。然而,各研究者对视皮质以及外侧膝状核(LGN)中神经元之间功能联系的认识有很大争议。近年的神经生理学进展提供了较详细的视网膜、LGN以及纹状皮质神经元连接结构和生理功能的资料,建立相应的连接模型已有可能。纹状皮质中具有方位特异性的神经元有简单(S)细胞和复杂(CX)细胞等,两者的区别在     

听觉诱发脑电小波分量的混沌研究——婴儿痉挛症认知功能障碍的机制探讨

通过对婴幼儿期难治性癫痫———婴儿痉挛症(infantile spasms, IS)听觉诱发脑电细貌混沌特性的研究,探讨与IS相伴的认知功能障碍的发生机制。研究方法是分别记录IS组及正常对照组对象的听觉诱发脑电,经Mexihat连续小波变换后,分别计算信号各尺度小波分量的相关维数。结果表明IS组与正常对照组的各小波分量相关维数的差别主要表现在小波的第3尺度分量上(频带范围是32~64 Hz,主要为γ频带范围),在这个尺度上正常组相关维数明显低于IS组(P<0.05)。相关维数的降低意味着大脑活动自由度的减少,表明大脑的各单元耦合加强。因为正常组脑干内信息传递通道完好,使得大脑各个单元之间的信息耦合较强; IS组则由于脑干功能的异常,存在神经信息传递障碍,进而影响到脑干及其与大脑各个局部之间的信息耦合。小波第3尺度处于较高频率范围(γ频带范围),而在大脑皮层上的基频信号与听觉调频信号经加工后所产生的神经信号正在这一频率范围,且这一信号与大脑高级认知功能密切相关。因此,IS患者γ频带细貌信号的相关维数高于正常值,能够解释IS认知功能发生障碍的原因。     

PI3K/AKT信号通路在常见神经退行性疾病中的机制研究进展

神经退行性疾病是一类以大脑和脊髓中特定的神经元损伤或丢失为主要病理特征的疾病。常见的神经退行性疾病包括阿尔兹海默症(AD)、帕金森症(PD)、肌萎缩侧索硬化(ALS)、亨廷顿病(HD)和多发性硬化(MS),给患者及其家庭带来了很大的困扰,也造成了很大的社会经济负担,已成为全球性的健康问题。近年来,PI3K/AKT信号路径作为一种参与多种细胞功能的信号通路,在多种神经退行性疾病中的作用被广泛研究。本文总结了PI3K/AKT信号通路在常见神经退行性疾病中的作用机制,并对其在不同神经退行性疾病及癌症中的作用异同进行了讨论,进而展望未来相应领域的理论研究及在药物开发中的应用趋势。     

CF-FM蝙蝠听中枢神经元处理行为相关声信号的神经机制

蝙蝠具有高度发达的回声定位系统,能够准确地处理和整合不断变化环境中的声学参数,以保持最佳的生理和行为状态。这种行为的神经生理机制已经得到了广泛的研究。本文主要探究了CF-FM蝙蝠听觉中枢处理种属特异性声信号、共变参数、多普勒频移补偿信号及多谐波声信号的神经机制,可有助于了解回声定位蝙蝠处理行为相关声信号的神经策略。同时本文也提出将来可以CF-FM蝙蝠作为模式动物进行更深入的胞内研究。     

Neurophysiological mechanisms involved in language learning in adults

Little is known about the brain mechanisms involved in word learning during infancy and in second language acquisition and about the way these new words become stable representations that sustain language processing. In several studies we have adopted the human simulation perspective, studying the effects of brain-lesions and combining different neuroimaging techniques such as event-related potentials and functional magnetic resonance imaging in order to examine the language learning (LL) process. In the present article, we review this evidence focusing on how different brain signatures relate to (i) the extraction of words from speech, (ii) the discovery of their embedded grammatical structure, and (iii) how meaning derived from verbal contexts can inform us about the cognitive mechanisms underlying the learning process. We compile these findings and frame them into an integrative neurophysiological model that tries to delineate the major neural networks that might be involved in the initial stages of LL. Finally, we propose that LL simulations can help us to understand natural language processing and how the recovery from language disorders in infants and adults can be accomplished.     

The many faces of research on face perception

Face perception is fundamental to human social interaction. Many different types of important information are visible in faces and the processes and mechanisms involved in extracting this information are complex and can be highly specialized. The importance of faces has long been recognized by a wide range of scientists. Importantly, the range of perspectives and techniques that this breadth has brought to face perception research has, in recent years, led to many important advances in our understanding of face processing. The articles in this issue on face perception each review a particular arena of interest in face perception, variously focusing on (i) the social aspects of face perception (attraction, recognition and emotion), (ii) the neural mechanisms underlying face perception (using brain scanning, patient data, direct stimulation of the brain, visual adaptation and single-cell recording), and (iii) comparative aspects of face perception (comparing adult human abilities with those of chimpanzees and children). Here, we introduce the central themes of the issue and present an overview of the articles.     

Personality influences the neural responses to viewing facial expressions of emotion

Cognitive research has long been aware of the relationship between individual differences in personality and performance on behavioural tasks. However, within the field of cognitive neuroscience, the way in which such differences manifest at a neural level has received relatively little attention. We review recent research addressing the relationship between personality traits and the neural response to viewing facial signals of emotion. In one section, we discuss work demonstrating the relationship between anxiety and the amygdala response to facial signals of threat. A second section considers research showing that individual differences in reward drive (behavioural activation system), a trait linked to aggression, influence the neural responsivity and connectivity between brain regions implicated in aggression when viewing facial signals of anger. Finally, we address recent criticisms of the correlational approach to fMRI analyses and conclude that when used appropriately, analyses examining the relationship between personality and brain activity provide a useful tool for understanding the neural basis of facial expression processing and emotion processing in general.     

Functional imaging of the auditory processing applied to speech sounds

In this paper, we describe domain-general auditory processes that we believe are prerequisite to the linguistic analysis of speech. We discuss biological evidence for these processes and how they might relate to processes that are specific to human speech and language. We begin with a brief review of (i) the anatomy of the auditory system and (ii) the essential properties of speech sounds. Section 4 describes the general auditory mechanisms that we believe are applied to all communication sounds, and how functional neuroimaging is being used to map the brain networks associated with domain-general auditory processing. Section 5 discusses recent neuroimaging studies that explore where such general processes give way to those that are specific to human speech and language.     

蜜蜂复眼的视觉通路研究进展

视觉通路的研究在神经科学、 仿生应用和医学治疗上都具有十分重要的意义。西方蜜蜂Apis mellifera作为神经生物学研究的重要模式生物已被广泛地应用于视觉通路的研究。蜜蜂的视觉器官包括1对复眼和3只单眼, 复眼是形成视觉的主要感觉器官。视叶是蜜蜂传递和处理视觉信息的主要神经构造, 它包括视神经节层、 视髓质层、 视小叶和前视结节4个等级的神经纤维网。复杂的视觉信息在经过大脑的各级神经时被分离, 以许多空间隔离的并行连续的视觉通路传递和加工, 然后汇集到高级脑中枢, 部分甚至与其他感觉模态的信息相整合, 最终输出有效信息来调控蜜蜂的各种行为。本文按照信息在视叶中逐级传递的顺序对蜜蜂复眼的视觉通路研究进展进行综述。     

综述: 人脑视觉意识的神经机制

意识的存在决定了人类生命的意义.意识问题被认为是21世纪科学要回答的一个最重要问题.意识科学正在成为认知和心理科学的皇冠,成为基础科学的顶峰.近20年来,随着认知科学、心理科学、神经科学和脑成像技术的发展,人们开始通过实验科学地研究意识问题,特别是与视觉意识相关的研究工作取得了很多重要进展.在这篇综述中,我们对以往的视觉意识研究工作进行了总结,并对未来的研究方向进行了展望.     

Communication and the primate brain: insights from neuroimaging studies in humans, chimpanzees and macaques

Considerable knowledge is available on the neural substrates for speech and language from brain-imaging studies in humans, but until recently there was a lack of data for comparison from other animal species on the evolutionarily conserved brain regions that process species-specific communication signals. To obtain new insights into the relationship of the substrates for communication in primates, we compared the results from several neuroimaging studies in humans with those that have recently been obtained from macaque monkeys and chimpanzees. The recent work in humans challenges the longstanding notion of highly localized speech areas. As a result, the brain regions that have been identified in humans for speech and nonlinguistic voice processing show a striking general correspondence to how the brains of other primates analyze species-specific vocalizations or information in the voice, such as voice identity. The comparative neuroimaging work has begun to clarify evolutionary relationships in brain function, supporting the notion that the brain regions that process communication signals in the human brain arose from a precursor network of regions that is present in nonhuman primates and is used for processing species-specific vocalizations. We conclude by considering how the stage now seems to be set for comparative neurobiology to characterize the ancestral state of the network that evolved in humans to support language.     

Neural overlap in processing music and speech

Neural overlap in processing music and speech, as measured by the co-activation of brain regions in neuroimaging studies, may suggest that parts of the neural circuitries established for language may have been recycled during evolution for musicality, or vice versa that musicality served as a springboard for language emergence. Such a perspective has important implications for several topics of general interest besides evolutionary origins. For instance, neural overlap is an important premise for the possibility of music training to influence language acquisition and literacy. However, neural overlap in processing music and speech does not entail sharing neural circuitries. Neural separability between music and speech may occur in overlapping brain regions. In this paper, we review the evidence and outline the issues faced in interpreting such neural data, and argue that converging evidence from several methodologies is needed before neural overlap is taken as evidence of sharing.     

Prior expectations evoke stimulus-specific activity in the deep layers of the primary visual cortex

The way we perceive the world is strongly influenced by our expectations. In line with this, much recent research has revealed that prior expectations strongly modulate sensory processing. However, the neural circuitry through which the brain integrates external sensory inputs with internal expectation signals remains unknown. In order to understand the computational architecture of the cortex, we need to investigate the way these signals flow through the cortical layers. This is crucial because the different cortical layers have distinct intra- and interregional connectivity patterns, and therefore determining which layers are involved in a cortical computation can inform us on the sources and targets of these signals. Here, we used ultra-high field (7T) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to reveal that prior expectations evoke stimulus-specific activity selectively in the deep layers of the primary visual cortex (V1). These findings are in line with predictive processing theories proposing that neurons in the deep cortical layers represent perceptual hypotheses and thereby shed light on the computational architecture of cortex.

The way we perceive the world is strongly influenced by our expectations, but the neural circuitry through which the brain achieves this remains unknown. A study using ultra-high field fMRI reveals that prior expectations evoke stimulus-specific signals in the deep layers of the primary visual cortex.     

A massively asynchronous,parallel brain

Whether the visual brain uses a parallel or a serial, hierarchical, strategy to process visual signals, the end result appears to be that different attributes of the visual scene are perceived asynchronously—with colour leading form (orientation) by 40 ms and direction of motion by about 80 ms. Whatever the neural root of this asynchrony, it creates a problem that has not been properly addressed, namely how visual attributes that are perceived asynchronously over brief time windows after stimulus onset are bound together in the longer term to give us a unified experience of the visual world, in which all attributes are apparently seen in perfect registration. In this review, I suggest that there is no central neural clock in the (visual) brain that synchronizes the activity of different processing systems. More likely, activity in each of the parallel processing-perceptual systems of the visual brain is reset independently, making of the brain a massively asynchronous organ, just like the new generation of more efficient computers promise to be. Given the asynchronous operations of the brain, it is likely that the results of activities in the different processing-perceptual systems are not bound by physiological interactions between cells in the specialized visual areas, but post-perceptually, outside the visual brain.