Neurocognitive mechanisms of control over cognitive stability and flexibility

控制认知稳定性和灵活性的神经认知机制

• 批准号: 10709062
• 负责人: Tobias Egner
• 金额: $ 47.64万
• 依托单位: DUKE UNIVERSITY
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-09-01 至 2028-07-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10709062
• 关键词: Adaptive Behaviors; Address; Allium cepa; Anterior; Attention; Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder; Basal Ganglia; Basic Science; Behavior; Behavioral; Brain; Clinical; Cognitive; Computer Models; Conflict (Psychology); Data; Data Set; Diffusion; Electroencephalography; Environment; Exposure to; Failure; Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Geometry; Goals; Human; Impairment; Investigation; Lateral; Learning; Life; Literature; Measures; Mediating; Modeling; Monitor; Neuroanatomy; Neurocognitive; Neurologic; Parietal; Patients; Phase; Population; Process; Protocols documentation; Psychological reinforcement; Reaction Time; Readiness; Reading; Recipe; Regulation; Resolution; Role; Shapes; Site; Slice; Stimulus; Testing; Time; Variant; Work; adjudication; base; behavior test; blood flow measurement; cingulate cortex; cognitive control; cognitive process; cognitive reappraisal; cooking; cost; distraction; flexibility; innovation; learning algorithm; millisecond; neural; neuromechanism; novel; response; simulation; stimulus processing; success; temporal measurement

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Humans have a uniquely developed ability to impose internal goals on how they interact with their environment. Referred to as “cognitive control”, this capacity includes two core components: (1) the ability to focus attention on currently goal-relevant stimulus features and responses (a “task set”) while ignoring task-irrelevant features (cognitive stability); and (2) the ability to switch to a different task set when circumstances change (cognitive flexibility). Crucially, to thrive in a dynamic environment, we need to continuously adapt our levels of cognitive stability and flexibility to suit changing demands. E.g., when cooking a meal, needs for stability (e.g., a strong task-focus when slicing onion) and flexibility (e.g., rapid shifting between recipe reading and stovetop monitoring) change frequently over time. The strategic regulation of stability and flexibility is thus fundamental for success in everyday life, and is in fact severely impaired in many clinical conditions. However, the underlying neurocognitive mechanisms are poorly understood. This is due to the fact that, while there are large literatures on cognitive stability (in the shape of conflict-control studies) and flexibility (in the shape of task-switching studies), these processes have been either investigated in isolation, conflated, or not interrogated in terms of their dynamic adaptation. The present proposal seeks to overcome these barriers to progress by combining a novel task protocol that assesses simultaneous and independent adaptive shifts in stability and flexibility with computational modeling, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and intracranial electro- encephalography (iEEG). Our overall goal is to characterize the neurocognitive mechanisms of concurrent, strategic control over cognitive stability and flexibility. We triangulate this goal via three aims: Aim 1 seeks to establish the first computational model of concurrent stability and flexibility regulation by fitting and simulating behavioral data from protocols with time-varying demands on stability and flexibility (Studies 1 and 2). Our working model consists of two independent reinforcement learners making trial-by-trial predictions about forthcoming demands on stability (conflict- likelihood) and flexibility (switch-likelihood), which in turn modulate distinct within-trial drift-diffusion model parameters. Aim 2 employs the winning model to determine the neural mechanisms mediating these adjustments in stability and flexibility. Building on a large prior literature, we use complementary fMRI (Study 3) and iEEG (Study 4) approaches to test specific neuroanatomical hypotheses about the respective roles of the lateral prefrontal, posterior parietal, and anterior cingulate cortex, as well as the basal ganglia, in supporting the proactive adaptation of stability and flexibility to time-varying demands. Finally, Aim 3 will use fMRI to characterize the neural reinstatement of context- appropriate stability and flexibility settings when they are applied reactively, i.e., in response to specific demand- predicting stimuli (Study 5). Together, these complementary aims represent the first systematic investigation into the computational and neural mechanisms underlying the concurrent regulation of cognitive stability and flexibility. This innovative project will significantly advance our understanding of the neurocomputational bases of cognitive control, and lay the groundwork for identifying potential failure modes of stability and flexibility regulation in clinical conditions.

项目概要/摘要 人类具有独特的发展能力，可以将内部目标强加于他们与环境的互动方式。 这种能力被称为“认知控制”，包括两个核心组成部分：（1）集中注意力的能力 当前与目标相关的刺激特征和反应（“任务集”），同时忽略与任务无关的特征（认知 稳定）; (2) 当情况发生变化时切换到不同任务集的能力（认知灵活性）。至关重要的是， 为了在动态环境中茁壮成长，我们需要不断调整我们的认知稳定性和灵活性水平以适应 不断变化的需求。例如，做饭时，需要稳定性（例如，切洋葱时高度集中任务）以及 灵活性（例如，菜谱读取和炉灶监控之间的快速切换）随着时间的推移而频繁变化。这 因此，稳定性和灵活性的战略调节是日常生活中成功的基础，而且实际上对 在许多临床情况下受损。然而，人们对潜在的神经认知机制知之甚少。这是 因为，虽然有大量关于认知稳定性的文献（以冲突控制研究的形式）和 灵活性（以任务切换研究的形式），这些过程要么被单独研究，要么被合并， 或者没有对其动态适应进行询问。本提案旨在克服这些障碍 通过结合新的任务协议来评估稳定性和独立适应性变化的进展 计算模型、功能磁共振成像 (fMRI) 和颅内电的灵活性 脑电图（iEEG）。我们的总体目标是描述并发的、策略性的神经认知机制 控制认知的稳定性和灵活性。我们通过三个目标来三角衡量这一目标： 目标 1 寻求建立第一个目标 通过拟合和模拟行为数据的并发稳定性和灵活性调节的计算模型 对稳定性和灵活性的要求随时间变化的协议（研究 1 和 2）。我们的工作模型包括两个 独立的强化学习者对即将到来的稳定性需求（冲突- 可能性）和灵活性（切换可能性），这反过来又调节不同的试验内漂移扩散模型 参数。目标 2 采用获胜模型来确定调节这些调整的神经机制 稳定性和灵活性。基于大量先前文献，我们使用互补的 fMRI（研究 3）和 iEEG（研究 4） 测试关于外侧前额叶、后额叶各自作用的特定神经解剖学假设的方法 顶叶、前扣带皮层以及基底神经节，支持主动适应稳定性 以及对随时间变化的需求的灵活性。最后，目标 3 将使用 fMRI 来表征情境的神经恢复 当反应性应用时，即响应特定需求时，适当的稳定性和灵活性设置 预测刺激（研究 5）。这些互补的目标共同代表了对 认知稳定性和灵活性同时调节的计算和神经机制。这 创新项目将显着增进我们对认知控制的神经计算基础的理解， 并为识别临床条件下稳定性和灵活性调节的潜在失效模式奠定基础。