The long term goal is to identify cortical circuits underlying cognitive functions. This endeavor requires the elucidation of the essential contributions that cerebral loci make to cognitive processes. The projects will concentrate on occipito-parietal (OP) & occipito-temporal (OT) contributions to visual perception and cognition of space, action and forms, and to memory.
The specific aim of the proposed work is to test two interlinked hypotheses: 1) Each area within OP and OT cortices makes multiple, yet unique, combinations of essential contributions to perception, cognition and memory; 2) Permanent lesion-induced deactivations can be accompanied by neural compensations that attenuate and mask the magnitude of these contributions. Work will focus on cat middle and posterior suprasylvian cortices (areas 7, aMS, pMS, dPS, PSs and vPS), and the hypotheses will be tested by applying multi-site cooling deactivation (#1), or permanent lesion-induced deactivation (#2), to disrupt distinct combinations of a battery of specific visually guided behaviors. The data will be used to generate the first comprehensive compendium of the multiple and characteristic combinations of neural contributions each of the constituent areas in OP and OT cortices make to different aspects of perception, cognition and the memory. The compendium will highlight similarities, overlap, differences, lateralization, uniqueness and nested hierarchy of contributions areas make to cognitive and higher brain functions. The compendium is a requisite for accurately identifying and interpreting neural compensations that may emerge following cerebral lesions. Together, the acquired knowledge is essential for the future development of biologically-realistic, functionally-based models of cerebral operations. Moreover, the knowledge will: 1) form the foundation of future studies of emergent and higher-order integrative processes; and 2) guide future investigative studies on defective cerebral systems that underlie diminished cognitive function, agnosia, and visual neglect and other sequelae of damage of visuoparietal and visuotemporal regions.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01NS032137-06
Application #
6539770
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1-IFCN-8 (01))
Program Officer
Edwards, Emmeline
Project Start
1993-09-01
Project End
2004-06-30
Budget Start
2002-07-01
Budget End
2003-06-30
Support Year
6
Fiscal Year
2002
Total Cost
$407,500
Indirect Cost
Name
Boston University
Department
Anatomy/Cell Biology
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
604483045
City
Boston
State
MA
Country
United States
Zip Code
02118
Rushmore, R J; Payne, Bertram; Valero-Cabre, Antoni (2010) Recovery of function following unilateral damage to visuoparietal cortex. Exp Brain Res 203:693-700
Wolfe, Benjamin; Rushmore, Richard J; Valero-Cabre, Antoni (2010) Coping with spatial attention in real space: a low-cost portable testing system for the investigation of visuo-spatial processing in the human brain. J Neurosci Methods 187:190-8
Schweid, L; Rushmore, R J; Valero-Cabre, A (2008) Cathodal transcranial direct current stimulation on posterior parietal cortex disrupts visuo-spatial processing in the contralateral visual field. Exp Brain Res 186:409-17
Wagner, Tim; Eden, Uri; Fregni, Felipe et al. (2008) Transcranial magnetic stimulation and brain atrophy: a computer-based human brain model study. Exp Brain Res 186:539-50
Valero-Cabre, Antoni; Pascual-Leone, Alvaro; Rushmore, Richard J (2008) Cumulative sessions of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) build up facilitation to subsequent TMS-mediated behavioural disruptions. Eur J Neurosci 27:765-74
Valero-Cabre, Antoni; Payne, Bertram R; Pascual-Leone, Alvaro (2007) Opposite impact on 14C-2-deoxyglucose brain metabolism following patterns of high and low frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation in the posterior parietal cortex. Exp Brain Res 176:603-15
Rushmore, R Jarrett; Valero-Cabre, Antoni; Lomber, Stephen G et al. (2006) Functional circuitry underlying visual neglect. Brain 129:1803-21
Valero-Cabre, A; Rushmore, R J; Payne, B R (2006) Low frequency transcranial magnetic stimulation on the posterior parietal cortex induces visuotopically specific neglect-like syndrome. Exp Brain Res 172:14-21
Van Hooser, Stephen D; Heimel, J Alexander F; Chung, Sooyoung et al. (2005) Orientation selectivity without orientation maps in visual cortex of a highly visual mammal. J Neurosci 25:19-28
Valero-Cabre, Antoni; Payne, Bertram R; Rushmore, Jarrett et al. (2005) Impact of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation of the parietal cortex on metabolic brain activity: a 14C-2DG tracing study in the cat. Exp Brain Res 163:1-12

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