ANATOMICAL BASIS OF DISORDERS OF EXECUTIVE FUNCTION

在当前的资金期内，我们已经制定了一套理论来解释 对于决策、规划和社会行为方面的缺陷， 在额叶病变的患者中尤为明显。这表明，那些 缺陷是由于体细胞标记的缺陷激活造成的，正常情况下 作为做出对有机体有利的决定的路标。 该理论基于以前的数据和SMR中概述的原则 项目#1中讨论的框架将成为测试一系列 关于神经网络的组成的具体假设 被认为是体细胞标记激活过程的基础。 心理生理测量(皮肤电导、心率、面部肌电) 将作为躯体状态激活的指标，我们将研究 局灶性病变位于假设构成的区域的患者 躯体状态神经网络。其中包括腹内侧额叶， 背外侧前额叶和躯体感觉皮质。我们还将 调查目标患者的判断和决策能力 在一系列的现场实验中，我们将研究精神病理学 使用一套全面的标准对此类患者的表现进行评估 库存和评级等级。 对“执行功能”的神经基础的阐明将取得进展 神经科学通过贡献关于决策的基础知识- 在社会和其他领域制定和规划，并通过促进更好地 众多患有精神障碍的患者的诊断 由头部损伤等神经疾病引起的执行功能， 中风，以及肿瘤的外科消融。从这个过程中学到的知识 该项目还将允许设计康复技术， 允许患者弥补自己的缺陷并获得好处 就业和更有回报的人际关系。其他 应用包括这一理论结构的延伸。 投射到精神变态，强迫症， 慢性酒精中毒和其他形式的酒精中毒的心理社会后果 上瘾。我们预计，选举结果将对实地产生影响。 关于教育的问题，以及关于发展型个人的管理 社会风气缺陷。

During the current funding period, we have formulated a theory to account for the defects in decision-making, planning and social conduct which are so salient in patients with frontal lobe lesions. It suggests that those defects result from defective activation of somatic markers that normally function as signposts for making decisions advantageous for the organism. The theory, based on previous data and on principles outlined in the SMR framework discussed in Project #1, will form the basis for testing a series of specific hypotheses regarding the composition of the neural network presumed to underlie the process of somatic marker activation. Psychophysiological measures (skin conductance, heart rate, facial EMG) will be used as indexes of somatic state activation, and we will study patients with focal lesions in the regions hypothesized to comprise the somatic state neural network. Among them are the ventromedial frontal, dorsolateral prefrontal, and somatosensory cortices. We will also investigate the judgment and decision-making capacities of target patients in a set of field experiments, and we will study the psychopathological manifestations of such patients using a comprehensive set of standard inventories and rating scales. Elucidation of the neural substrates of "executive functions" will advance neuroscience by contributing fundamental knowledge regarding decision- making and planning in social and other realms, and by promoting better diagnosis of the numerous patients who suffer from disturbances of executive function caused by neurological diseases such as head injury, stroke, and surgical ablation of tumors. Knowledge gained from this project will also permit the design of rehabilitation techniques which may allow patients to compensate for their defects and obtain gainful employment and more rewarding interpersonal relationships. Other applications include the extension of the theoretical constructs of this project to conditions such as psychopathy, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and the psychosocial consequences of chronic alcoholism and other forms of addiction. We anticipate that the results will have an impact on the field of education, and on the management of individuals with developmental forms of social conduct defect.