Cognitive control and the functional organization of frontal cortex

认知控制和额叶皮层的功能组织

• 批准号: 7785651
• 负责人: David Badre
• 金额: $ 34.37万
• 依托单位: BROWN UNIVERSITY
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2010-02-15 至 2015-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/7785651
• 关键词: Accidents; Adaptive Behaviors; Affect; Alzheimer' s Disease; Anterior; Architecture; Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder; Autistic Disorder; Closed head injuries; Cognition; Computer Architectures; Development; Diagnosis; Dimensions; Disease; Etiology; Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Functional disorder; Goals; Knowledge; Lateral; Learning; Logic; Major Depressive Disorder; Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder; Parkinson Disease; Pathway interactions; Policies; Process; Psychological Transfer; Rehabilitation therapy; Research; Role; Route; Schizophrenia; Source; Specific qualifier value; Stroke; Structure; Support System; System; Testing; To specify; Translating; Uncertainty; abstracting; base; cognitive control; design; executive function; flexibility; frontal lobe; frontal lobe function; goal oriented behavior; improved; insight; internal control; nervous system disorder; novel; operation; programs; public health relevance; regional difference; relating to nervous system; research study; response; theories

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The goal of this research program is to advance our understanding of the functional organization of frontal cortex and the ways in which interactions among frontal regions permit internal control of thought and action, an ability termed cognitive control. The proposed experiments test the hypothesis that the rostro-caudal axis of the frontal lobes comprises a processing hierarchy whereby more anterior regions support cognitive control involving progressively more abstract goals, plans, and action representations. First, a set of fMRI experiments, using factorial logic, seek to specify the dimensions of abstraction that define regional differences along the rostro-caudal axis of the frontal lobes. Several experiments have demonstrated a functional gradient along the rostro-caudal axis as cognitive control involves more abstract representations. However, these experiments have differed in their definition of abstraction, including domain generality, temporal abstraction, and rule complexity. Though these dimensions of abstraction are not mutually exclusive, they may also be independently varied under controlled circumstances. Thus, the first set of fMRI experiments take advantage of this independence to provide a more explicit definition of abstraction as it relates to frontal lobe function. Second, a hierarchical system requires that superordinate processors can modulate subordinate processors but not vice versa. Translated to a frontal hierarchy, this asymmetry predicts that control processing by a given region of the frontal cortex should directly influence regions posterior to but not anterior to its locus. Thus, a line fMRI experiments will use effective connectivity analysis to test whether (a) cognitive control processing in anterior frontal regions can modulate processing in posterior frontal regions, (b) whether cognitive control processing in posterior frontal regions can affect concurrent control processing by anterior frontal regions. Third, a set of experiments will investigate frontal lobe function during learning and adaptation of hierarchically structured rule sets. In general, hierarchies are useful structures for supporting learning of novel tasks because they can represent the same information at multiple levels of abstraction and so can provide access points for the application of prior knowledge, such as through analogy. Thus, a set of experiments test whether the putative frontal lobe hierarchy reflects such dynamics during learning of novel rule sets, the transfer of learning to new tasks, and the application of transformational rules to existing rule sets. Hence, across its aims, this program of research triangulates the hypothesis of a hierarchical organization of the frontal lobe by testing three different classes of predictions that each arises from an assumption of a hierarchical system. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: A variety of disorders impact cognitive control and frontal function, including schizophrenia, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), obsessive-compulsive disorder, major depression, autism, Alzheimer's disease, and Parkinson's disease. However, a lack of basic understanding of cognitive control and frontal function remains a persistent obstacle to directed assessment and rehabilitation of frontal lobe dysfunction (Royall et al., 2002). The proposed research seeks to fill these gaps in basic understanding of frontal lobe function, and so may form a basis for development of directed assessments that refine diagnosis and improve rehabilitation.

描述（由申请人提供）：本研究项目的目标是促进我们对额叶皮层功能组织的理解，以及额叶区域之间的相互作用如何允许思想和行动的内部控制，这种能力被称为认知控制。所提出的实验验证了这样的假设，即额叶的前尾轴包括一个加工层次，其中更多的前部区域支持涉及逐渐抽象的目标、计划和行动表征的认知控制。首先，一组功能磁共振成像实验，使用析因逻辑，试图指定抽象的维度，定义沿额叶的上尾轴的区域差异。几个实验已经证明，认知控制涉及更多抽象表征时，沿背尾轴的功能梯度。然而，这些实验在抽象的定义上有所不同，包括领域通用性、时间抽象和规则复杂性。虽然这些抽象维度不是相互排斥的，但它们也可以在受控环境下独立变化。因此，第一组功能磁共振实验利用这种独立性提供了一个更明确的抽象定义，因为它与额叶功能有关。其次，分层系统要求上级处理器可以调节下级处理器，反之则不行。翻译到额叶层次，这种不对称预示着额叶皮层某一特定区域的控制处理应该直接影响其位点后而非前侧的区域。因此，一行功能磁共振实验将使用有效的连通性分析来测试(a)前额区域的认知控制加工是否可以调节后额区域的加工，(b)后额区域的认知控制加工是否可以影响前额区域的并发控制加工。第三，我们将通过一系列实验来研究大脑额叶在分层结构规则集学习和适应过程中的功能。一般来说，层次结构是支持学习新任务的有用结构，因为它们可以在多个抽象层次上表示相同的信息，因此可以为先验知识的应用提供访问点，例如通过类比。因此，一组实验测试了假设的额叶层次是否反映了在学习新规则集、学习到新任务的迁移以及将转换规则应用于现有规则集期间的这种动态。因此，跨越其目标，该研究计划通过测试三种不同类型的预测来三角化额叶等级组织的假设，每一种预测都源于对等级系统的假设。