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: 2017
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2017-01-01 至 2018-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=631466
• 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.

灵长类动物的额叶皮层由大量具有独特细胞结构的区域组成，并与大脑的其他区域相连。这些不同的区域形成了不同功能的正面子系统。为了理解额叶皮层的功能组织，我的研究重点是在解剖学上识别这些不同的子系统，研究损伤后认知和行为障碍的本质，研究这些功能子系统在影响额叶功能领域的行为和认知的高级控制方面的相互作用。在我的研究中，我已经证明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，以及在基于习得的条件规则的不同行为之间的选择损伤。在对猴子的研究中，我已经证明了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（46区和9区）用于监测工作记忆中的信息，后背外侧额叶皮层（8区和6区）用于在反应之间进行条件规则选择。在目前的拨款申请中提出的工作中，我将探索腹侧额叶皮层在记忆检索和额极皮层（10区）中的功能贡献，该区域与46区和9区相互作用，可能涉及超监测功能，这将成为我们多任务处理能力的基础。这些问题现在可以以一种强有力的方式解决，因为：a)我们最近开发的新的实验范式（适用于人类和猴子的研究），b)各种额叶皮质区域的解剖学连接的详细知识的可用性（我们做出了贡献），以及c)我们最近对人类和猴子额叶皮质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损伤效应的行为分析，以及对猴子前额皮质区域连接的研究，努力阐明灵长类动物大脑中这一最复杂部分的功能。