The neurochemical basis of adaptive behaviour in healthy individuals and disease

最近，一名德国火车调度员按错了键盘上的按钮组合，导致火车相撞，造成12人死亡。我们通常试图通过监控自己的行为来避免这些重大错误，或者至少纠正它们。后内侧额叶皮质（pMFC）在这种行为监测功能中起着至关重要的作用，pMFC的损伤与一系列神经系统疾病的动作选择障碍有关。本项目旨在利用电生理和脑成像技术研究性能监测和适应性行为的神经基础。具体而言，该项目将利用行为任务，引发错误和随后的表现调整，并将行为表现与脑功能的电生理（EEG）和神经化学标记（质子磁共振波谱[MRS]）联系起来。除了研究神经健康个体的适应性行为外，该项目还将重点了解与常见精神健康状况（如精神分裂症、自闭症谱系或强迫症）相关的大脑功能变化。

Recently, a German train dispatcher pressed a wrong button combination on a keypad, leading to a train collision with 12 fatalities. We usually try to avoid such major errors, or at least correct them, by monitoring our behaviour. The posterior medial frontal cortex (pMFC) plays a crucial role for such performance monitoring functions, and damage to the pMFC has been associated with impairments in action selection in a range of neurological disorders. This project aims at investigating the neural basis of performance monitoring and adaptive behavior using electrophysiological and brain imaging techniques. Specifically, the project will utilize behavioural tasks that elicit both errors and subsequent performance adjustments and relate behavioural performance to both electrophysiological (EEG) and neurochemical markers (proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy [MRS]) of brain function. In addition to investigating adaptive behavior in neurologically healthy individuals, the project will also focus upon understanding alterations in brain functions associated with common mental health conditions, for instance schizophrenia, autism spectrum or obsessive-compulsive disorders.