近日，德国马克斯·普朗克神经生物学研究所Ruben Portugues团队利用全脑成像技术揭示了感觉运动决策任务中证据的积累。这一研究成果在线发表在2019年12月2日的《自然—神经科学》上。

研究人员研发了一种新的幼体斑马鱼感觉运动决策模型，其基于斑马鱼幼崽全方位的视觉运动。鱼感知到的运动方向并通过游泳来做出响应，通过运动强度来调节开始游泳的等待时间和正确转弯的比例。利用全脑功能成像技术，研究人员确定了决策过程中不同阶段的神经活动，包括瞬时评估和感觉证据的积累。这项活动分布在不同脑区的功能簇中，并且具有广泛的时间分布。此外，研究还发现尾椎间突核（IPN）是位于大脑中线腹侧的圆形结构，能够可靠地控制左右旋转速度。

研究人员表示，尽管动物可以在相当长的时间范围内积累感觉证据以做出适当选择行为，但对于脊椎动物大脑是如何实现这一目标的知之甚少。

附：英文原文

Title: Evidence accumulation during a sensorimotor decision task revealed by whole-brain imaging

Author: Elena I. Dragomir, Vilim tih, Ruben Portugues

Issue&Volume: 2019-12-02

Abstract: Although animals can accumulate sensory evidence over considerable time scales to appropriately select behavior, little is known about how the vertebrate brain as a whole accomplishes this. In this study, we developed a new sensorimotor decision-making assay in larval zebrafish based on whole-field visual motion. Fish responded by swimming in the direction of perceived motion, such that the latency to initiate swimming and the fraction of correct turns were modulated by motion strength. Using whole-brain functional imaging, we identified neural activity relevant to different stages of the decision-making process, including the momentary evaluation and accumulation of sensory evidence. This activity is distributed in functional clusters across different brain regions and is characterized by a wide range of time constants. In addition, we found that the caudal interpeduncular nucleus (IPN), a circular structure located ventrally on the midline of the brain, reliably encodes the left and right turning rates.

DOI: 10.1038/s41593-019-0535-8

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41593-019-0535-8