Behavioural Functions of the Frontal Cortex

额叶皮层的行为功能

• 批准号: RGPIN-2014-04729
• 负责人: Petrides, Michael
• 金额: $ 4.3万
• 依托单位: McGill University
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2015-01-01 至 2016-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=587981
• 关键词: Behavioural; Functions; Frontal; Cortex

The primate frontal cortex comprises a large number of areas that have distinct cellular architecture and connectivity with other areas of the brain. These different areas form distinct functional frontal subsystems. In trying to understand the functional organization of the frontal cortex, the focus of my research has been to identify anatomically these different subsystems, to study the nature of the cognitive and behavioural impairments that follow damage to them, and to study the interactions between these functional subsystems in effecting the high-level control of behaviour and cognition that is the domain of frontal function. In my research, I have shown that patients with frontal cortical excisions exhibit specific impairments in monitoring processes within working memory, as well as impairments in selection between different actions based on learned conditional rules. In work with the monkey, I have shown that specific areas of the dorsolateral frontal cortex underlie these two classes of impairment: the mid-dorsolateral frontal cortex (areas 46 and 9) for the monitoring of information in working memory and the posterior dorsolateral frontal cortex (areas 8 and 6) for conditional rule-based choices between responses. In the work proposed in the present grant application, I shall explore the functional contribution of the ventrolateral frontal cortex in memory retrieval and the frontal polar cortex (area 10) which, in interaction with areas 46 and 9, may be involved in a hyper-monitoring function that would underlie our ability to multitask. These issues can now be approached in a powerful way because of: a) new experimental paradigms (appropriate for human and monkey studies alike) that we have recently developed, b) the availability of detailed knowledge of the anatomical connectivity of the various frontal cortical areas (to which we have contributed), and c) the results of our recent comparative anatomical studies of the human and the monkey frontal cortex. My research program utilizes behavioural analysis of lesion effects in monkey and human subjects and study of the connections of the prefrontal cortical areas in the monkey in an effort to elucidate the functions of this most complex part of the primate brain.

灵长类动物额叶皮层由大量区域组成，这些区域具有独特的细胞结构以及与大脑其他区域的连接。这些不同的区域形成了不同的功能性额叶子系统。 在试图了解额叶皮层的功能组织时，我研究的重点是从解剖学上识别这些不同的子系统，研究它们受损后认知和行为障碍的本质，并研究这些功能子系统之间的相互作用，以影响额叶功能领域的行为和认知的高级控制。在我的研究中，我发现额叶皮质切除的患者在工作记忆的监控过程中表现出特定的损伤，以及根据习得的条件规则在不同动作之间进行选择的损伤。在与猴子的研究中，我发现背外侧额叶皮层的特定区域是这两类损伤的基础：中背外侧额叶皮层（区域 46 和 9）用于监测工作记忆中的信息，后背外侧额叶皮层（区域 8 和 6）用于在反应之间进行基于条件规则的选择。在本拨款申请中提出的工作中，我将探讨腹外侧额叶皮层在记忆检索中的功能贡献，以及额极皮层（区域 10），其与区域 46 和区域 9 相互作用，可能涉及超级监控功能，而该功能是我们多任务处理能力的基础。现在可以以强有力的方式解决这些问题，因为：a）我们最近开发的新实验范式（适用于人类和猴子的研究），b）各个额叶皮层区域的解剖连接性的详细知识（我们对此做出了贡献），以及c）我们最近对人类和猴子额叶皮层的比较解剖学研究的结果。我的研究项目利用对猴子和人类受试者的病变影响进行行为分析，并研究猴子前额皮质区域的连接，以努力阐明灵长类动物大脑中这个最复杂部分的功能。