This proposal undertakes the first systematic analysis of the cortical topography of area 7a of the inferior parietal lobule in the behaving monkey. The focus is on uncovering the distribution of multiple visual, oculomotor and spatial representations across the extent of area 7a. An innovative combination of intrinsic optical imaging, single unit recordings and anatomical tracer methods will be used to address these issues at multiple levels of resolution. Understanding of area 7a in the inferior parietal lobule of the monkey is beginning to plateau. It is well established from single unit studies that area 7a neurons represent visual and eye position information, as well as attentional state. However little is known as to how these properties are distributed across the cortex, or how these distributed representations are modified by behavior. Spatial representations in area 7a: To explore these issues, optic flow (e.g. radial, planar rotational, translation) and luminance stimuli will be presented while the animal fixates on different locations in the visual field in a reaction time task. Many qualities that alter the response of area 7a neurons, such as speed and disparity, and vergence will be systematically manipulated to determine the dependence of the distributed representations. Optical imaging of the intrinsic signal will be used to map the topography of retinal, eye position, and head-centered location across the cortical surface in the behaving monkey. Single unit studies will be used to verify the results of the optical imaging. The relationships between both associational and collosal projections and the optically recorded maps will be determined to verify the maps themselves, as well as to understand how the distributed signals are transmitted to recipient areas. Attentional modulation of maps: The monkeys'attentional state will be altered to determine whether the cortical representation is plastic, i.e. it can be transformed across the cortical surface. The combination of optical measurements, single unit recording, and anatomy allows characterization of normal parietal spatial function. These studies will be crucial in correctly choosing which parietal representations are best modified through therapy when there are spatial deficits in human subjects caused by parietal damage through stroke.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Eye Institute (NEI)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01EY009223-06
Application #
6350857
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1-IFCN-8 (01))
Program Officer
Oberdorfer, Michael
Project Start
1993-09-30
Project End
2004-01-31
Budget Start
2001-02-01
Budget End
2002-01-31
Support Year
6
Fiscal Year
2001
Total Cost
$149,091
Indirect Cost
Name
Rutgers University
Department
Type
Organized Research Units
DUNS #
130029205
City
Newark
State
NJ
Country
United States
Zip Code
07102
Heider, Barbara; Siegel, Ralph M (2014) Optical imaging of visually guided reaching in macaque posterior parietal cortex. Brain Struct Funct 219:495-509
Karkhanis, Anushree N; Heider, Barbara; Silva, Fabian Muñoz et al. (2014) Spatial effects of shifting prisms on properties of posterior parietal cortex neurons. J Physiol 592:3625-46
Heider, Barbara; Karnik, Anushree; Ramalingam, Nirmala et al. (2010) Neural representation during visually guided reaching in macaque posterior parietal cortex. J Neurophysiol 104:3494-509
Khaytin, Ilya; Chen, Xin; Royal, David W et al. (2008) Functional organization of temporal frequency selectivity in primate visual cortex. Cereb Cortex 18:1828-42
Quraishi, Salma; Heider, Barbara; Siegel, Ralph M (2007) Attentional modulation of receptive field structure in area 7a of the behaving monkey. Cereb Cortex 17:1841-57
Siegel, Ralph M; Duann, Jeng-Ren; Jung, Tzyy-Ping et al. (2007) Spatiotemporal dynamics of the functional architecture for gain fields in inferior parietal lobule of behaving monkey. Cereb Cortex 17:378-90
Raffi, Milena; Siegel, Ralph M (2005) Functional architecture of spatial attention in the parietal cortex of the behaving monkey. J Neurosci 25:5171-86
Anderson, Kathleen C; Siegel, Ralph M (2005) Three-dimensional structure-from-motion selectivity in the anterior superior temporal polysensory area, STPa, of the behaving monkey. Cereb Cortex 15:1299-307
Heider, Barbara; Jando, Gabor; Siegel, Ralph M (2005) Functional architecture of retinotopy in visual association cortex of behaving monkey. Cereb Cortex 15:460-78
Turner, J A; Anderson, K C; Siegel, R M (2003) Cell responsiveness in macaque superior temporal polysensory area measured by temporal discriminants. Neural Comput 15:2067-90

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