Cognitive Set Reconfiguration Signaled by Macaque Posterior Parietal Neurons
Cognitive Set Reconfiguration Signaled by Macaque Posterior Parietal Neurons
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DOI：
10.1016/j.neuron.2009.01.028
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发表时间：
2009-03-26
期刊：
影响因子：
16.2
通讯作者：
Miyashita, Yasushi
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Kamigaki, Tsukasa;Fukushima, Tetsuya;Miyashita, Yasushi
当我们面对问题时，我们可以灵活地改变我们的思维方式或观点。我们的认知灵活性来自于这种改变认知集合的能力。为了阐明这一动态过程是如何在灵长类动物大脑中实现的，从两只猴子的后顶叶皮层（PPC）记录了单个单元活动，这些猴子进行了威斯康星州卡片分类测试的模拟，该测试最常用于测试人类的认知灵活性。我们成功地训练了猴子迅速进行集合转换，主要是在一次试验中，并发现了与转换相关的活动：当猴子从一个认知集合转换到另一个认知集合时，PPC神经元被短暂激活，但当它们向相反方向转换时则没有。这种转移相关活动出现在实际行为反应之前约4s，它很好地预测了认知集是否会成功转移。这些结果提供了认知灵活性的单单位水平的机制的见解。
When faced with problems, we can flexibly change our ways of thinking or our point of view. Our cognitive flexibility arises from this ability of shifting cognitive sets. To elucidate how this dynamic process is implemented in the primate brain, single-unit activity was recorded from the posterior parietal cortex (PPC) of two monkeys performing analogs of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, which is most commonly used to test cognitive flexibility in humans. We successfully trained the monkeys to promptly perform set shifting, mostly within a single trial, and found shift-related activity: PPC neurons were transiently activated when the monkeys shifted from one cognitive set to another, but not when they shifted in the opposite direction. This shift-related activity emerged about 4 s before the actual behavioral responses, and it well predicted whether the cognitive set would be successfully shifted. These results provide insights into single-unit level mechanisms of cognitive flexibility.