Institute for Experimental Epileptology and Cognition Research, Department of Epileptology, University of Bonn Medical Center, 53105 Bonn, Germany.
Institute for Experimental Epileptology and Cognition Research, Department of Epileptology, University of Bonn Medical Center, 53105 Bonn, Germany; Deutsches Zentrum für Neurodegenerative Erkrankungen, 53105 Bonn, Germany.
Trends Neurosci. 2018 Mar;41(3):128-136. doi: 10.1016/j.tins.2018.01.002.
Modern neuroscientific techniques that specifically manipulate and measure neuronal activity in behaving animals now allow bridging of the gap from the cellular to the behavioral level. However, in doing so, they also pose new challenges. Research using incompletely defined manipulations in a high-dimensional space without clear hypotheses is likely to suffer from multiple well-known conceptual and statistical problems. In this context it is essential to develop hypotheses with testable implications across levels. Here we propose that a focus on circuit motifs can help achieve this goal. Viewing neural structures as an assembly of circuit motif building blocks is not new. However, recent tool advances have made it possible to extensively map, specifically manipulate, and quantitatively investigate circuit motifs and thereby reexamine their relevance to brain function.
现代神经科学技术能够特异性地操作和测量行为动物的神经元活动，从而实现从细胞水平到行为水平的跨越。然而，这样做也带来了新的挑战。在一个没有明确假设的高维空间中使用不完全定义的操作进行研究，很可能会受到多个众所周知的概念和统计问题的影响。在这种情况下，跨层次发展具有可测试含义的假设至关重要。在这里，我们提出关注电路基元可以帮助实现这一目标。将神经结构视为电路基元构建块的集合并不是什么新鲜事。然而，最近的工具进步使得广泛绘制、特异性操作和定量研究电路基元成为可能，并重新审视它们与大脑功能的相关性。
