DESIMONE, Robert MIT

<p>Nov 27, 2012 08:49 PM</p>

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Bob is DIRECTOR of McGovern Instit at MIT; there since 2004;&nbsp;

prior: &nbsp;direc of Intramural res at NIMH;

NAS member</p>

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pubs: good list.

from PubMed.</p>

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great blurb on his lab's research:&nbsp;

(Also see 4 min video overview of him: &nbsp;brain: gamma sync to manage attn)</p>

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<b>neural basis of ALLOCATION of ATTENTION</b>....</p>

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altered neural sync underlies many brain disorders that disrupt attn</p>

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FOCUSING ATTN mechs: &nbsp;how to distinguish relevant from irrelevant info: critical skill.</p>

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when we attend to something specific: neurons fire in unison -like a chorus rising above the noise-

allowing the relevant info to be heard more easily by other regions.</p>

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relevant info is selectively amplified in certain regions while irrelevant info is suppressed.</p>

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neurons who activity reflects the relevant info become synchro with one another.

the r<b>hythmic activity is a chant </b>that rises above the bkgrnd chatter.</p>

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PFC: &nbsp;involved in planning and exec control most likely is the <b>conductor of the chorus</b>.

<b>PFC provides a top-down signal coordinating activity across brain regions</b>.;

genl mech of communic.</p>

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2002 ATTN networks</p>

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ATTN is the mind's ability to focus on what is important: stim, thots, mems.</p>

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dedicated neural systems for control of info flow:</p>

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80s and 90s: monkey studies: &nbsp;emphasized dlPFC as main source of attn.

2002 &nbsp;bilateral dorsal frontoparietal net... a source of goal-driven stim-resp selection.</p>

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*

(below may be from a difft source)</p>

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2003 &nbsp;High Expectations &nbsp;Endocannabinoids... retrograde messengers

not stored in vesicles and do not xmit info from pre to post.</p>

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made on demand in postsynap cells and intervene in retrograde signal proc in which info

abt postsynap activ flows back to nerve terminals.</p>

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2004 &nbsp;Homeostatic Plasticity Develops</p>

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fathers of homeostasis &nbsp;Claude Bernard and Walter Cannon:</p>

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taken a long time to find mechs... &nbsp;neural firing must be kept within func boundarieis.</p>

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modulate ion channel number and function and homeostat reg of synap strengths.</p>

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synaptic scaling: &nbsp;adjusts neurons synap str up or down to compensate for changes in avg firing;

it works thru global proportional changes in all of neuron's syanp strengths, &nbsp;it is thot to enable neurons to stabilize firing w/o degrading info.</p>

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