Collaborative Research: NCS-FR: Volitional Control of Internal Cognitive States

University Of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh PA

Investigators

Abstract

Humans are not, by nature, logical creatures. It takes focus to maintain our composure and not let emotions color our judgement. When we can control our emotional state, we can get “in the zone” and perform well. Failing to do so, we’ll “have a bad day”, or just be “off”. Why does this happen? And, in terms of neurobiological mechanisms, how does this happen? Our emotions are regulated by internal states, such as arousal, attention, and motivation, brain-wide modulatory processes that impact neural function related to perception, decision making, and action. What are the neural mechanisms of those interactions? This project will explore the interactions between internal states and cognitive processing in the cerebral cortex. The investigators will leverage their expertise in “brain training” by giving subjects visual feedback about their neural activity so that they are directly aware of their internal states. In this way, they will study whether subjects are able to better regulate their internal states so that they are able to make perceptual judgments and perform motor skills more consistently at a high level of performance. The investigators will also organize workshops to bring together experts in areas related to this project, train researchers to become well-versed in experimental and computational neuroscience, and enhance the participation of undergraduates, women, and underrepresented minorities in the research. This project involves three integrated research threads. First, the investigators will use multi-electrode recordings in several regions of the cerebral cortex simultaneously to identify brain-wide signatures of internal states and their effect on the communication between cortical areas. Second, they will train subjects to volitionally control their internal states using neurofeedback. Third, they will examine whether subjects can harness their internal states to accelerate learning and improve performance on challenging perceptual and motor tasks. In these studies, they will focus on three types of internal states -- one that guides us in the spatial world around us (spatial attention), one that manages our alertness throughout the day (arousal), and one that aids our effort in focusing on what lies ahead (motivation). They will study how these internal states interact and to what extent they can be volitionally controlled in three areas across the brain: visual area V4, prefrontal cortex, and motor cortex. Together, their work will provide i) a unified account of the impact of multiple internal states on brain-wide neural computations spanning perception and action, and ii) neurofeedback paradigms to enable subjects to harness their internal states for improved performance. This project is funded by Integrative Strategies for Understanding Neural and Cognitive Systems (NCS), a multidisciplinary program jointly supported by the Directorates for Biology (BIO), Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE), Education and Human Resources (EHR), Engineering (ENG), and Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences (SBE). This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.