The Role of Frontal Cortex in Primate Metacognition

额叶皮层在灵长类元认知中的作用

• 批准号: 1539687
• 负责人: Marc Sommer
• 金额: $ 63.89万
• 依托单位: Duke University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-07-15 至 2019-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1539687&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Role; Frontal; Cortex; Primate; Metacognition

Award Title: The Role of Frontal Cortex in Primate MetacognitionAward Abstract:Rarely do we stop thinking. The mental experience of humans is one of continuity, with thoughts leading to other thoughts. When we reflect on our past decisions and ponder how we may act in the future, we are manipulating our own thought processes, a process termed metacognition. Most research on thought processes at both the psychological and neural levels has focused on single events such as how we remember a picture or decide our next move in a game of chess. Little is understood about serial cognitive events, such as the chain of decisions required to plan several moves ahead in chess. Understanding how individual thought processes influence each other -- venturing beyond cognition to metacognition -- is a challenging but important next step for brain research. Dr. Marc Sommer at Duke University studies metacognition using novel approaches that combine psychological experiments with direct recordings of neurons in the brain. With his Duke colleague, computational neuroscientist Dr. Jeff Beck, he examines not only how decisions are made, but also how they are remembered and controlled. Psychological testing of humans and non-human primates reveal how well they adjust their decision-making when circumstances change, and computer-aided modeling of the data allows for precise comparisons of metacognitive abilities between subjects and species. Neural recordings from the frontal cortex of non-human primates while they control their own decisions sheds light on how the brain is able to link thoughts across time. Specific implications of this work include a better understanding of human cognition and behavior in fast-paced and unpredictable situations that require constant evaluation and planning of decisions. The project will offer hands-on laboratory training opportunities for undergraduates and high school students and will be highlighted in STEM outreach to K12 schools, community lectures, and lay articles on cognitive neuroscience. The research aligns with the public's emerging interest in metacognition as an important factor in education, mental health, and the management of oneself and others.The experimental approach is to use an integrated set of psychophysical and neurophysiological studies in which all data are analyzed and interpreted with computational modeling. The rationale for the project is that humans are adept at metacognitive operations, for example thinking about how to make a later decision, but little is known about the underlying neural mechanisms. Dr. Sommer previously recorded from neurons in the monkey frontal lobe and discovered signals in one area, the supplementary eye field (SEF), that maintained a trace of past decisions. The overall hypothesis of this proposal is that the SEF contributes, as well, to the metacognitive control of future decisions. The first objective is to quantify metacognitive behavior in monkeys as compared with humans. Both species will be tested on a novel rule selection task. Within a trial, subjects select a rule for making a visual decision (metacognitive control), but across trials, subjects bias their rule selection based on past outcomes (metacognitive monitoring). The second objective is to determine whether SEF activity is related to metacognitive control and monitoring. The approach will be to record from neurons in monkey SEF during the rule selection task. The third objective is to test whether the SEF is necessary for metacognitive control and monitoring. The approach will be to reversibly inactivate the monkey SEF during the rule selection task. Dr. Beck will assist with modeling and analysis of the data to ensure all results are statistically sound and clearly interpretable.

奖项标题：额叶皮质在灵长类动物元认知中的作用奖摘要：我们很少停止思考。人类的精神体验是一种连续性，思想引领着其他思想。当我们反思过去的决定并思考未来可能会如何行动时，我们正在操纵我们自己的思维过程，这一过程被称为元认知。大多数关于心理和神经层面的思维过程的研究都集中在单个事件上，比如我们如何记住一张图片或在国际象棋比赛中决定下一步。人们对一连串的认知事件知之甚少，比如在国际象棋中提前计划几步棋所需的一连串决策。了解个体的思维过程是如何相互影响的--冒险超越认知到元认知--是大脑研究的下一步，具有挑战性，但也是重要的。杜克大学的Marc Sommer博士使用新的方法研究元认知，这种方法结合了心理学实验和对大脑神经元的直接记录。与杜克大学的同事、计算神经学家杰夫·贝克博士一起，他不仅研究了决策是如何做出的，而且还研究了它们是如何被记忆和控制的。对人类和非人类灵长类动物的心理测试揭示了他们在环境变化时调整决策的能力有多好，计算机辅助数据建模允许精确比较受试者和物种之间的元认知能力。非人类灵长类动物在控制自己的决定时，额叶皮质的神经记录揭示了大脑如何能够跨时间联系思想。这项工作的具体影响包括更好地理解人类在快节奏和不可预测的情况下的认知和行为，这些情况需要不断地评估和规划决策。该项目将为本科生和高中生提供动手实验室培训机会，并将在STEM扩展到K12学校、社区讲座和关于认知神经科学的文章中得到强调。这项研究符合公众对元认知的兴趣，元认知是教育、心理健康以及自我和他人管理的重要因素。实验方法是使用一套整合的心理物理和神经生理学研究，其中所有数据都通过计算模型进行分析和解释。该项目的理论基础是，人类擅长元认知操作，例如思考如何做出后来的决定，但对潜在的神经机制知之甚少。萨默尔博士之前记录了猴子额叶的神经元，并在辅助眼区(SEF)发现了一个区域的信号，该区域保持了过去决策的痕迹。这一建议的总体假设是，SEF也有助于对未来决策的元认知控制。第一个目标是量化猴子与人类的元认知行为。这两个物种都将在一项新的规则选择任务中进行测试。在一次试验中，受试者选择一个规则来做出视觉决定(元认知控制)，但在整个试验中，受试者根据过去的结果来偏向他们的规则选择(元认知监控)。第二个目标是确定SEF活动是否与元认知控制和监控有关。该方法将在规则选择任务中记录猴子SEF中的神经元。第三个目标是测试SEF是否对元认知控制和监控是必要的。方法将是在规则选择任务期间可逆地停用猴子SEF。贝克博士将协助对数据进行建模和分析，以确保所有结果在统计上都是正确的，并且可以清楚地解释。

项目成果

Serial decision-making in monkeys during an oculomotor task.

猴子在动眼神经任务期间的串行决策。

• DOI: 10.1037/xan0000154
• 发表时间: 2018
• 期刊: Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Learning and Cognition
• 作者: Abzug, Zachary M.;Sommer, Marc A.
• 通讯作者: Sommer, Marc A.