Neural Circuits for the Executive Control of Action

这个项目将研究当第一次学习新的行为任务时，额叶内侧(或扣带回)皮质的神经活动是如何变化的。中心问题是理解大脑这一部分的活动如何允许从过去的错误中学习，以避免未来的失败。实验方法包括在动物学习执行反应时间任务时，从大鼠额叶内侧皮质长期植入的电极阵列进行记录。这些任务通常用于研究人类的认知过程。预期的结果将包括测试神经科学中的一个领先假说，即内侧额叶皮质的持续活动能够自我控制，例如，在采取行动之前冷静等待的能力。我们预测，这种活动将在学习过程中在内侧额叶皮质发展，并将逐渐预测动物在犯错误后调整表现的能力有多好。这项研究的潜在影响是，它将提供一些关于学习过程中大脑这一部分与错误相关的活动如何发展的初步数据。更广泛的影响活动包括在网站上共享数据和计算机资源，一个关于大脑的多语言儿童项目，以及一所非传统研究型大学的本科生参与尖端神经生物学研究。

This project will examine how neural activity in the medial frontal (or cingulate) cortex changes as new behavioral tasks are learned for the first time. The central issue is to understand how activity in this part of the brain allows for learning from past mistakes in order to avoid future failures. The experimental approach involves recording from chronically implanted arrays of electrodes in the medial frontal cortex of rats as the animals learn to perform reaction time tasks. These tasks are commonly used to study cognitive processing in human beings. The expected results will include testing a leading hypothesis in neuroscience that persistent activity in medial frontal cortex enables self-control, e.g. the ability to wait calmly before acting. We predict that this activity will develop in the medial frontal cortex during learning and will come to predict how well animals are able to adjust performance after mistakes are made. The potential impact of the study is that it will provide some of the first data on how error-related activity develops in this part of the brain during learning. Broader impact activities include data and computer resource sharing on a website, a multi-lingual children's program on the brain, and participation by undergraduates from a non-traditional research university in cutting-edge neurobiological research.