Characterizing the role of the prefrontal cortex in cognitive control

表征前额叶皮层在认知控制中的作用

• 批准号: 8457851
• 负责人: Derek Evan Nee
• 金额: $ 5.57万
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-12-01 至 2015-11-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/8457851
• 关键词: Affect; Area; Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder; Behavior; Behavioral; Brain region; Circumscribed Lesion; Clinical; Cognition; Cognitive deficits; Complex; Coupling; Dependency; Diagnosis; Dorsal; Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Functional disorder; Future; Goals; Health; Human; Impaired cognition; Impairment; Knowledge; Lateral; Lead; Lesion; Location; Mental disorders; Modeling; Nervous System Trauma; Outcome; Pathway interactions; Patients; Pattern; Population; Positioning Attribute; Prefrontal Cortex; Primates; Process; Property; Psyche structure; Quality of life; Rehabilitation therapy; Role; Schizophrenia; Short-Term Memory; Source; Steam; Stroke; Testing; To specify; Transcranial magnetic stimulation; Traumatic Brain Injury; Visual; abstracting; cognitive control; cognitive function; flexibility; improved; insight; interest; multitask; nervous system disorder; neural patterning; organizational structure

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Humans and other primates have the remarkable ability to adjust behaviors according to internally stored goals and contexts. This flexibility permits complex cognition and is known to depend upon the functions of the prefrontal cortex (PFC). Accordingly, dysfunction of the PFC impairs flexibility of action leading to impulsive, perseverative, and disorganized behaviors. Such cognitive deficits are evident in patients with neurological damage (e.g. traumatic-brain injury, stroke), as well as in patients with psychiatric disorders (e.g. schizophrenia, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder). Commensurately, there has been a great deal of interest in explicating organizing principles to describe PFC function. Two such principles are: 1) that the PFC is organized along a rostral-caudal axis with more rostral areas providing hierarchical top-down control over more caudal areas; 2) that the PFC is organized along a dorsal-ventral axis of content with more dorsal areas maintaining spatial information and more ventral areas maintaining identity or object information. What remains unclear is how these two axes interact to achieve flexible cognitive control. The present proposal seeks to fill this gap by coupling working memory tasks that are known to engage dissociable dorsal-ventral networks in the caudal PFC with cognitive control demands that are known to engage dissociable rostral-caudal areas. The proposal will test the hypothesis that the dorsal-ventral axis converges in rostral areas of the PFC allowing rostral areas of the PFC (areas 10 & 46) to exert domain-general control over domain-specific caudal areas of the PFC (areas 6/8 & 44). This hypothesis is drawn from documented patterns of anatomical connectivity. The PFC will be explored through a combination of fMRI, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), and studies of patients with focal PFC lesions. The combination of approaches affords the ability to document the organization of the PFC through patterns of neural activation and test causal functional roles of particular PFC regions through the effect of circumscribed lesions. Given the centrality of the PFC in cognitive control, it is anticipated that elucidating the interaction between the rostral-caudal and dorsal-ventral axes of the PFC will provide critical insight into complex behaviors that require high levels of mental organization. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Dysfunctions of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) have a deleterious impact on cognitive function, which is one of the most critical determinants of quality of life in patients. Furthermore, cognitie and behavioral deficits from PFC damage are particularly challenging to treat. Elucidating the functional organization of the PFC is expected to enhance our understanding of PFC-related cognitive impairments, thereby leading to improved diagnosis and rehabilitation.

描述（由申请人提供）：人类和其他灵长类动物具有根据内部存储的目标和环境调整行为的卓越能力。这种灵活性允许复杂的认知，并且已知取决于前额皮质（PFC）的功能。因此，前额皮质功能障碍会损害行动的灵活性，导致冲动、持续和无组织的行为。这种认知缺陷在神经损伤（例如脑外伤、中风）患者以及精神疾病（例如精神分裂症、注意力缺陷多动障碍）患者中很明显。相应地，人们对解释 PFC 功能的组织原则也产生了极大的兴趣。其中两个原则是：1）前额叶皮层沿喙尾轴组织，具有更多的喙部区域，为更多的尾部区域提供自上而下的分层控制； 2）前额皮质沿着内容的背腹轴组织，更多的背侧区域维护空间信息，更多的腹侧区域维护身份或物体信息。目前尚不清楚的是这两个轴如何相互作用以实现灵活的认知控制。目前的提案试图通过将工作记忆任务与认知控制需求相结合来填补这一空白，工作记忆任务已知会参与尾侧 PFC 中可分离的背腹网络，而认知控制需求则会参与可分离的头尾区域。该提案将测试背腹轴在 PFC 的喙部区域汇聚的假设，允许 PFC 的喙部区域（区域 10 和 46）对 PFC 的特定域尾部区域（区域 6/ 8 和 44）。这一假设是根据记录的解剖连接模式得出的。将通过结合功能磁共振成像、经颅磁刺激 (TMS) 和对局灶性 PFC 病变患者的研究来探索 PFC。方法的组合提供了通过神经激活模式记录 PFC 组织的能力，并通过限制性病变的影响测试特定 PFC 区域的因果功能作用。鉴于 PFC 在认知控制中的中心地位，预计 阐明前额皮质的头尾轴和背腹轴之间的相互作用将为对需要高水平心理组织的复杂行为提供重要的见解。 公共卫生相关性： 前额皮质（PFC）功能障碍会对认知功能产生有害影响，而认知功能是患者生活质量最关键的决定因素之一。此外，PFC 损伤导致的认知和行为缺陷尤其难以治疗。阐明 PFC 的功能组织有望增强我们对 PFC 相关认知障碍的理解，从而改善诊断和康复。