Characterizing habitual and goal-directed behavioral control systems in the human

描述(由申请人提供)：使用计算和多变量功能磁共振成像表征人脑中习惯性的和目标导向的行为控制系统。PI：John P.O‘Doherty博士研究所：加州理工学院项目摘要虽然现在人们对啮齿动物目标导向和习惯性学习背后的行为和神经机制了解很多，但对支持这两种类型学习的联系的编码所涉及的大脑结构知之甚少，对其实现背后的神经计算更是知之甚少。更关键的是，几乎对人类这两个系统之间行为控制转换的机制知之甚少。该项目旨在解决知识方面的这些关键差距。为了实现这一点，我们将结合复杂的行为方案，灵感来自于工具条件作用的动物研究，以及最先进的fMRI数据分析。我们首先采用了多变量模式分析技术，以确定目标导向和习惯学习的候选大脑结构，如vmPFC，前后纹状体和辅助运动皮质的联想编码的性质。接下来，我们将复杂的计算模型应用于我们的行为和功能磁共振数据，以确定在这些大脑区域实施这些形式的学习所依据的计算的性质。一旦对目标导向学习和习惯性学习的神经实现有了更清晰的理解，我们就把注意力转向支配同化的因素，以及参与调节习惯和目标导向系统对行为的控制的神经系统。为此，我们将应用我们实验室开发的一种新的实验范式，它可以在人类志愿者中快速诱导行为同化，而不需要繁琐的过度训练或其他迄今用于在人类中诱导习惯的不切实际的程序。通过将这一过程与功能磁共振相结合，我们将能够直接识别当行为受到习惯控制时参与的大脑结构。这个项目将为习惯性学习和目标导向学习如何在大脑中实现提供新的见解，并阐明这些系统控制行为的潜在机制。最终，这项研究有可能导致新的机制的发展，以诱导习惯控制，以实现维持适应和健康的行为。 公共卫生相关性：在为肥胖、成瘾和其他精神疾病等疾病寻找新的行为治疗方法时，一个根本问题是如何将导致健康后果的行为归因于行为，从而确保它们的维持，而不依赖于艰难的理性决策过程。尽管有来自动物条件作用实验的大量证据，但人们对人类习惯性行为背后的心理和神经过程知之甚少，这些过程决定了人类对目标导向的动作选择的优势。在这项提议中，我们的目标是阐明习惯是如何在大脑中处理的，并研究习惯控制人类行为的神经机制。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): "Characterizing habitual and goal-directed behavioral control systems in the human brain using computational and multivariate fMRI". PI: Dr. John P. O'Doherty Institution: California Institute of Technology PROJECT SUMMARY While much is now known about the behavioral and neural mechanisms underlying goal-directed and habitual learning in rodents, much less is known about the brain structures involved in encoding the associations that support these two types of learning humans, and even less is known about the neural computations underlying their implementation. Even more critically, almost nothing is known about the mechanisms governing the transition in behavioral control between these two systems in humans. This project seeks to address these critical gaps in knowledge. To achieve this we will combine sophisticated behavioral protocols, inspired by animal studies of instrumental conditioning, with state-of-the-art fMRI data analysis. We first deploy multivariate pattern analysis techniques in order to establish the nature of associative encoding in candidate brain structures for goal-directed and habit learning such as the vmPFC, anterior and posterior striatum and supplementary motor cortex. Next, we apply sophisticated computational models to our behavioral and fMRI data in order to establish the nature of the computations underlying the implementation of these forms of learning in these brain areas. Once a clearer understanding of the neural implementation of goal-directed and habitual learning has been achieved, we turn our attention to the factors governing habitization, and to the neural systems involved in mediating the control of the habitual and goal-directed systems over behavior. For this we will apply a novel experimental paradigm developed in our laboratory that can induce behavioral habitization rapidly in human volunteers without the need for cumbersome over-training or other impractical procedures hitherto used to induce habits in humans. By combining this procedure with fMRI we will be able to directly identify brain structures engaged when behavior is under habitual control. This project will provide new insights into how habitual and goal-directed learning is implemented in the brain, and shed light on the mechanisms underlying the control of these systems over behavior. Ultimately this research has the potential to lead to the development of new mechanisms for inducing habitual control in order to achieve the maintenance of adaptive and healthful behaviors. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: A fundamental issue in the search for new behavioral treatments for disorders such as obesity, addiction and other psychiatric diseases is how to habitize behaviors that lead to healthful consequences, and thus ensure their maintenance without dependence on the effortful process of rational decision- making. In spite of substantial evidence from animal conditioning experiments, very little is known about the psychological and neural processes that underlie habitual performance in humans and that determine its dominance over goal- directed action selection. In this proposal we aim to shed light on how habits are processed in the brain, and to investigate the neural mechanism by which habits can come to control human behavior.