FOR 1847:  The Physiology of Distributed Computing Underlying Higher Brain Functions in Non-Human Primates

• Subject Area: Medicine
• Term: from 2013 to 2024
• Website: Homepage
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 211740722

The research unit FOR 1847 asks for a second period of funding to enable the scientists involved to continue their joint efforts to promote the understanding of how the human brain realizes complex functions such as perception, communication, or the guidance of movement, a goal that requires a characterization of information processing at multiple levels, from synapses and neurons, to the processing of information in local microcircuits, up to large-scale interactions between distant brain areas. Invasive studies of the brains of non-human primates, used as models of the human brain, play a key role in research on the neuronal underpinnings of higher brain functions. They can take advantage of the similarity of the cognitive and behavioural repertoire of humans and non-human primates and of the underlying brain architectures, which are both direct consequences of the phylogenetic proximity of the two groups. The research unit brought together a group of scientists who try to unravel information processing in the brain of non-human primates underlying complex behaviours, deploying sophisticated combinations of behavioural paradigms and cutting edge neurophysiological, neuropharmacological and optogenetic methods. The group members strongly believe that answering the question of how highly developed brains generate complex functions requires an understanding of both information processing and its differences in distinct neuronal circuits (research group A), as well as an understanding of how signals are exchanged between circuits and areas (research group B). As in the first funding period, the neurobiological research programme will be supplemented by activities to establish and develop the highest standards of animal experimentation and to improve the public,s knowledge and acceptance of this core aspect of modern neuroscience research (primate welfare, ethics, and outreach projects). The very successful graduate training programme will continue to train the next generation of primate neurobiologists. The proposed research unit therefore will provide considerable added value for primate neurobiology not only in terms of scientific but also of structural benefits. The modest changes of the group composition, termination of one rather marginal project (A4) and addition of two new projects (A6 and B5), promise to promote the group coherence and additional momentum for the groups work on the interaction of vision and behaviour.

• DFG Programme: Research Units

Projects

• Action effect anticipation in the frontoparietal sensorimotor network (Applicant Gail, Alexander )
• Bbrainstem control of slow ocular drifts during gaze fixation (Applicant Hafed, Ph.D., Ziad )
• Bilateral decision networks for eye and arm movements (Applicant Kagan, Igor )
• Brain-wide dynamics during overt goal-oriented exploration of natural scenes (Applicant Fries, Pascal )
• Coordination Funds (Applicant Thier, Hans-Peter )
• Dopaminergic modulation of cognitive signals in prefrontal cortex neurons (Applicant Nieder, Andreas )
• Encoding of complex motion patterns in area MST of macaque visual cortex and its attentional modulation by the frontal lobe (Applicant Treue, Stefan )
• Ensuring NHP welfare through in-cage cognitive testing and remote sensing of physiological parameters (Applicant Gail, Alexander )
• Ethical considerations and standards (Applicant Wiesing, Urban )
• Ethics: a gradualist-coherentist approach and empirical investigation (Applicants Clausen, Jens ;  Wiesing, Urban )
• Graduate Training in Primate Neurobiology (GTPN) (Applicant Scherberger, Hansjörg )
• Imaging and manipulating neural circuits involved in visual motion processing underlying perception and visuomotor behaviour (Applicant Sato, Ph.D., Takashi )
• Linking attention and decision signals in the macaque midlevel visual cortex (Applicant Nienborg, Hendrikje )
• Neural and behavioural interaction of visual and auditory stimuli (Applicant Bremmer, Frank )
• Processing of grasp intentions in parietal, premotor, and motor cortex (Applicant Scherberger, Hansjörg )
• The attentional modualation of receptive field structures and other sensory properties of area mst of macaque visual cortex (Applicant Treue, Stefan )
• The role of the cerebellum in the control of saccades as a window into neural mechanisms of movement optimization (Applicant Thier, Hans-Peter )

• Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Hans-Peter Thier