Dual Mechanisms of Cognitive Control

描述（由申请人提供）：本项目侧重于理解产生认知控制的心理和神经机制。认知控制过程是人类心理功能的一个组成部分，在包括注意力、工作记忆、情景记忆和决策在内的广泛领域中都具有重要的基础性作用。认知控制中断被认为是患有各种心理健康障碍和神经精神疾病（如精神分裂症、抑郁症、多动症、帕金森氏症、阿尔茨海默氏症等）的个体功能损害的主要来源。在过去十年中进行的先前研究表明，可能存在与认知控制的时间动态和神经回路相关的变异性的核心维度，这反映在两种定性不同的控制模式之间的转换，主动和被动。这项工作提供了强有力的实验基础，表明这种变异性存在于健康个体中，并发生在一系列认知领域，b)在独特的动态神经特征方面可观察到，c)可能导致受损人群（例如健康老龄化，精神分裂症）的行为缺陷。然而，到目前为止，这项研究仅限于专注于单一任务的小规模研究，并使用有限的参与者样本。在当前的提案中，通过大样本研究，包括在多个认知控制领域的受试者fMRI评估，结合相关/实验设计，广泛表征个体差异变异，以及复杂的心理测量和统计数据建模，代表了严格和雄心勃勃的“扩大”这一研究努力的尝试。拟议项目的一个主要特点是它的整合和协同作用

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This project focuses on understanding the psychological and neural mechanisms that give rise to cognitive control. Cognitive control processes are a component of human mental function that is fundamentally important in a wide range of domains, including attention, working memory, episodic memory, and decision making. Cognitive control disruptions are thought to be a major source of functional impairment for individuals suffering from a variety of mental health disorders and neuropsychiatric diseases (e.g., schizophrenia, depression, ADHD, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, etc). Prior research, conducted over the last decade, has suggested that there may be a core dimension of variability related to the temporal dynamics and neural circuitry of cognitive control, which is reflected in shifts between two qualitatively distinct modes of control, proactive and reactive. This work has provided a strong experimental base of findings suggesting that this variability is: a) present in healthy individuals and occurs across a range of cognitive domains, b) observable in terms of unique dynamic neural signatures, and c) likely contributing to behavioral deficits in impaired populations (e.g., healthy aging, schizophrenia). However, to date, this research has been confined to small-scale studies focusing on single tasks and using restricted participant samples. In the current proposal represents a rigorous and ambitious attempt to "scale up" this research endeavor, through a large-sample study, involving within-subject fMRI assessments in multiple cognitive control domains, a combined correlational/experimental design, extensive characterization of individual differences variation, and sophisticated psychometric and statistical data modeling. A key feature of the proposed project is its integration and synergistic relationship with the on-going Human Connectome Project (HCP), which will provide the most comprehensive characterization of normative human brain function and variation in the history of neuroscience research. Specifically, as part of the current project, a subset of HCP participants (a diverse and well-characterized sample of MZ/DZ twins) will be recruited for retesting in tasks that are specifically designed to probe and dissociate proactive and reactive control, while utilizing the same fMRI scanner, acquisition, analysis and databasing protocols of the HCP. This will enable the project to achieve tight integration and linkage with comprehensive brain connectivity and genetic data acquired through the HCP. The key goal of the project will be to test and validate the provocative hypothesis that proactive and reactive control form distinct and coherent endophenotypic constructs that provide a bridge between genetic variation, neural circuitry and dynamics, and observable behavioral profiles. Success is in this effort will have important theoretical and clinical implications, by providing a clearer understanding of the sources of normal human variation, and even more importantly, highlighting potential risk vulnerability factors for a range of mental health disorders.