Integrative functions of primate prefrontal cortex

“分而治之”似乎主导了许多神经分析：有专门的系统来分析不同类型的信息。认知需要综合它们的结果。为了计划和执行复杂的、目标导向的行为，我们必须学习“游戏规则”：不同的感官事件、环境背景、可能的行动和后果之间的预测关系。这取决于专门用于学习和记忆的大脑系统：前额叶皮层（PFC），基底神经节（BG）和海马系统（HS）。这些系统中的任何一个受损，或者它们的断开，都会损害规则学习。先前的研究表明，具体（特定）规则和更高级别的抽象规则（一般原则）的获取和/或表征的神经相关性在PFC中普遍存在，PFC是基于规则的行为的大脑区域。但是，我们的理解是有限的，我们缺乏知识的各自的贡献，PFC与其他关键系统：BG和HS的相互作用。这个项目的主要目的是提供这些知识。我们计划同时研究植入这些系统的多达28个电极的神经活动，而猴子则学习和遵循具体规则（物体和扫视方向之间的条件视觉运动关联）并遵循抽象规则（适用于新刺激的匹配和非匹配规则）。这将为PFC、BG和GS对复杂目标导向行为的各自贡献提供精确的评估，并深入了解潜在的神经回路。我们的具体目标是：1.比较PFC中具体规则的神经表征与解剖学和功能相关系统（BG和HS）。2.通过比较PFC、BG和HS学习的神经相关因素，评估它们对规则获得的相对贡献。3.比较PFC与BG和HS中抽象规则的神经表征。由于规则学习是所有高阶行为的基础，因此该项目的数据有可能影响我们对各种行为以及人类和人类疾病的理解。从经验中收集规则和原则的能力在各种神经精神疾病中被破坏，如自闭症和精神分裂症。通过识别对这些能力很重要的大脑结构，辨别它们的相对作用，并揭示它们的神经机制，我们可以开辟一条旨在缓解其功能障碍的药物治疗之路。

"Divide and conquer" seems to dominate many neural analyses: There are specialized systems for analyzing different types of information. Cognition requires synthesizing their results. To plan and execute complex, goal-directed behaviors we must learn "the rules of the game": predictive relationships between disparate sensory events, environmental context, the possible actions and consequences. This depends on brain systems specialized for learning and memory: the prefrontal cortex (PFC), basal ganglia (BG) and hippocampal systems (HS). Damage to any of these systems, or their disconnection, impairs rule learning. Previous studies have shown that neural correlates of acquisition and/or representation of concrete (specific) rules and higher-level abstract rules (general principles) are prevalent in the PFC, a brain region central to rule-based behaviors. But our understanding is limited by our lack of knowledge about the respective contributions of, and PFC interactions with, the other critical systems: the BG and HS. The main goal of this project is to provide that knowledge. We plan to simultaneously study neural activity from up to 28 electrodes implanted these systems while monkeys larn and follow concrete rules )conditional visuomoter associations between an object and a saccade direction) and follow abstract rules (matching and non-matching rules applied to new stimuli). This will afford a precise assessment of the respective contributions of the PFC, BG, and GS to complex goal-directed behaviors and insight into the underlying neural circuitry. Our specific aims are: 1. To compare and contrast the neural representation of concrete rules in the PFC with anatomically and functionally-related systems (BG and HS). 2. To assess the relative contributions of PFC, BG and HS to rule acquisition by comparing neural correlates of their learning. 3. To compare and contrast the neural representation of abstract rules in the PFC with the BG, and HS. As rule learning is fundamental to all higher-order behavior, data from this project has the potential to impact on our understanding of a wide range of behaviors and human and human disorders. The ability to glean rules and principles from experience is disrupted in a variety of neuropsychiatric disorders such as autism and schizophrenia. By identifying brain structures important for these abilities, discerning their relative roles, and uncovering their neural mechanisms, we can open a path to drug therapies designed to alleviate their dysfunction.