IBSC Determinants of Executive Function and Dysfunction

拟议中心的目标是解决关于执行功能的两个基本问题：1.有助于执行控制的组成心理过程？2.大脑如何支持和启用执行功能？执行功能是一个宽泛的术语，包括许多关键技能和认知功能，包括那些指导、控制、抑制和监控行为的功能。由于其广泛的性质，对于行政职能的确切构成，没有明确的共识，也没有关于什么神经结构支持行政控制的明确共识。在本文中，我们认为执行功能是一种突现的、调节的功能，它代表了许多不同认知过程之间以及许多不同大脑区域之间的相互作用。为了研究这个问题，我们组织了一个中心，围绕着我们认为有助于执行功能的核心过程，以及影响执行功能变异性的因素。核心过程是：(A)控制过程，(B)学习过程，(C)记忆提取过程，(D)情绪过程，和(E)语言过程。我们在一个单独的项目中分别检查这四个过程中的第一个，而第五个过程，语言过程，将在各个项目中进行检查。我们进一步假设，这些过程通过对工作记忆和前额叶皮质的共同依赖而共同促进执行功能。我们关注的执行功能变异的两个来源是：(A)发育变异和(B)遗传变异。为了研究这些问题，我们有两个研究执行功能发展的项目--一个关注儿童时期，另一个关注青春期--还有一个研究基因对执行功能的影响。该中心采用的方法是高度跨学科的，借鉴了认知和临床心理学、行为遗传学、认知神经科学、物理学、计算机科学以及儿童和青少年发展。 对执行功能的更多了解与心理健康高度相关，因为它的各个方面都受到各种精神疾病的影响，包括精神分裂症、抑郁症、躁狂症、强迫症和注意缺陷多动障碍等。

The goal of the proposed center is to address two fundamental questions about executive function: 1. What are the component mental processes that contribute to executive control? 2. How does the brain support and enable executive function? Executive function is a broad term that encompasses many critical skills and cognitive functions, including those that guide, control, inhibit, and monitor behavior. Because of its broad nature, there is no clear consensus on exactly what constitutes executive function, nor is there clear agreement on what neural, structures support executive control. In this proposal we argue that executive function is an emergent and modulatory function that represents an interaction among many different cognitive processes and also among many different brain regions. To investigate this issue we have organized the center around core processes that we posit contribute to executive function, as well as factors influencing the variability in executive function. The core processes are: (a) control processes, (b) learning processes, (c) memory retrieval processes, (d) emotional processes, and (e) language processes. We examine the first of these four processes each in a separate project, while the fifth, language processes, is examined across projects. We further posit that these processes co-contribute to executive function through their shared reliance on working memory and prefrontal cortex. The two sources of variability in executive function that we focus on are: (a) developmental variability and (b) genetic variability. To examine these issues, we have two projects that examine the development of executive function - one focused on childhood and the other focused on adolescence - and another project that examines genetic influences on executive function. The approaches taken within the center are highly interdisciplinary drawing from cognitive and clinical psychology, behavior genetics, cognitive neuroscience, physics, computer science, and child and adolescent development. Increased understanding of executive function is highly relevant for mental health, as aspects of it are compromised across a wide variety of psychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia, depression, mania, obsessive compulsive disorder, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, among others.