Neural Circuits for the Executive Control of Action

执行控制行动的神经回路

• 批准号: 1121147
• 负责人: Mark Laubach
• 金额: $ 55万
• 依托单位: John B. Pierce Laboratory, Incorporated
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2011-08-15 至 2014-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1121147&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Neural; Circuits; Executive; Control; Action

This project will examine how neural activity in the medial frontal (or cingulate) cortex changes as new behavioral tasks are learned for the first time. The central issue is to understand how activity in this part of the brain allows for learning from past mistakes in order to avoid future failures. The experimental approach involves recording from chronically implanted arrays of electrodes in the medial frontal cortex of rats as the animals learn to perform reaction time tasks. These tasks are commonly used to study cognitive processing in human beings. The expected results will include testing a leading hypothesis in neuroscience that persistent activity in medial frontal cortex enables self-control, e.g. the ability to wait calmly before acting. We predict that this activity will develop in the medial frontal cortex during learning and will come to predict how well animals are able to adjust performance after mistakes are made. The potential impact of the study is that it will provide some of the first data on how error-related activity develops in this part of the brain during learning. Broader impact activities include data and computer resource sharing on a website, a multi-lingual children's program on the brain, and participation by undergraduates from a non-traditional research university in cutting-edge neurobiological research.

该项目将研究中间（或扣带）皮质中的神经活动如何随着首次学习新的行为任务而变化。中心问题是了解大脑这一部分的活动如何允许从过去的错误中学习，以避免将来的失败。实验方法涉及从大鼠内侧皮层中的慢性植入电极阵列记录，因为动物学会了执行反应时间任务。这些任务通常用于研究人类的认知处理。预期的结果将包括测试神经科学中的主要假设，该假说在额叶皮层中持续活性可以使自我控制，例如在表演之前冷静地等待的能力。我们预测，在学习过程中，这种活动将在内侧额叶皮层中发展，并将预测动物在犯错后能够调整性能。该研究的潜在影响是，它将提供一些关于在学习过程中与错误相关活动在大脑中如何发展的第一个数据。更广泛的影响活动包括网站上的数据和计算机资源共享，大脑的多语言儿童计划以及来自尖端神经生物学研究的非传统研究大学的本科生的参与。