Dual Mechanisms of Cognitive Control

描述(由申请者提供)：本项目侧重于了解导致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是至关重要的。认知控制障碍被认为是患有各种精神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)的个人功能损害的主要来源。过去十年进行的先前研究表明，可能存在与认知控制的时间动力学和神经回路相关的变异性的核心维度，这反映在两种不同的控制模式之间的变化，即主动控制和反应控制。这项工作提供了强有力的实验基础的发现表明，这种变异性是：a)存在于健康的个人，并发生在一系列认知领域，b)可观察到的独特的动态神经信号，以及c)可能导致受损人群的行为缺陷(例如，健康老龄化，精神分裂症)。然而，到目前为止，这项研究一直局限于以单一任务为重点的小规模研究，并使用有限的参与者样本。目前的提案是一项严格而雄心勃勃的尝试，旨在通过大样本研究，涉及多个认知控制领域的受试者内功能磁共振成像评估，相关/实验设计，个体差异差异的广泛表征，以及复杂的心理测量和统计数据建模。拟议项目的一个主要特点是其一体化和协同性。 与正在进行的人类连接组项目(HCP)的关系，该项目将最全面地描述神经科学研究历史上标准人脑功能和变异的特征。具体地说，作为当前项目的一部分，将招募HCP参与者的一个子集(MZ/DZ双胞胎的不同和特征良好的样本)，在专门为探测和分离主动和被动控制而设计的任务中进行重新测试，同时利用相同的HCP功能磁共振扫描仪、采集、分析和数据库协议。这将使该项目能够与通过HCP获得的全面的大脑连接和基因数据实现紧密的整合和联系。该项目的关键目标将是测试和验证这一挑衅性的假设，即主动和反应性控制形成不同和连贯的内表型结构，在遗传变异、神经电路和动力学以及可观察到的行为特征之间提供桥梁。这一努力的成功将具有重要的理论和临床意义，因为它提供了对正常人类变异来源的更清楚的理解，更重要的是，突出了一系列精神健康障碍的潜在风险脆弱性因素。

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.