The Shape of the ACC Contributes to Cognitive Control Efficiency in Preschoolers
The Shape of the ACC Contributes to Cognitive Control Efficiency in Preschoolers
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DOI：
10.1162/jocn_a_00459
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发表时间：
2014-01-01
影响因子：
3.2
通讯作者：
Houde, Olivier
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Cachia, Arnaud;Borst, Gregoire;Houde, Olivier
在学校和以后的生活中，认知成功是由包括认知控制（CC）在内的执行功能支持的。pFC在CC中起主要作用，特别是ACC的背侧或中扣带皮层。基因、环境（包括学校课程）和神经可塑性影响ACC。然而，迄今为止还没有研究调查ACC脑沟模式（一种主要在子宫内确定的稳定大脑特征）是否会影响认知和神经发育早期阶段的CC效率。通过解剖MRI和皮层褶皱三维重建，我们研究了5岁学龄前儿童前扣带皮层沟模式对前扣带皮层效率的经典行为指标Stroop评分的影响。我们发现，与对称型儿童（即两脑半球模式相同）相比，非对称型儿童（即每脑半球模式不同）的CC效率更高，即RTs和错误率的Stroop干扰得分更低。关键的是，前扣带脑沟模式对前向和后向数字跨度任务的表现没有影响，这表明前扣带脑沟模式有助于解决冲突的执行能力，而不是维持和操作工作记忆中的信息的能力。这一发现提供了第一个证据，证明学龄前儿童的前扣带控制效率可能与前扣带控制沟模式有关，从而表明大脑形状可能导致人类执行能力的早期限制。
Cognitive success at school and later in life is supported by executive functions including cognitive control (CC). The pFC plays a major role in CC, particularly the dorsal part of ACC or midcingulate cortex. Genes, environment (including school curricula), and neuroplasticity affect CC. However, no study to date has investigated whether ACC sulcal pattern, a stable brain feature primarily determined in utero, influences CC efficiency in the early stages of cognitive and neural development. Using anatomical MRI and three-dimensional reconstruction of cortical folds, we investigated the effect that ACC sulcal pattern may have on the Stroop score, a classical behavioral index of CC efficiency, in 5-year-old preschoolers. We found higher CC efficiency, that is, lower Stroop interference scores for both RTs and error rates, in children with asymmetrical ACC sulcal pattern (i.e., different pattern in each hemisphere) compared with children with symmetrical pattern (i.e., same pattern in both hemispheres). Critically, ACC sulcal pattern had no effect on performance in the forward and backward digit span tasks suggesting that ACC sulcal pattern contributes to the executive ability to resolve conflicts but not to the ability to maintain and manipulate information in working memory. This finding provides the first evidence that preschoolers' CC efficiency is likely associated with ACC sulcal pattern, thereby suggesting that the brain shape could result in early constraints on human executive ability.