Fractionating Prefrontal Contributions to Memory

描述（由申请人提供）：高阶认知主要依赖于形成和检索事件持久记忆的能力，或情景长期记忆（LTM）。前额叶皮层（PFC）被认为在引导LTM形成和检索的认知控制过程的实施中起着关键作用，并且在神经（如创伤性脑损伤）和精神（如精神分裂症）疾病中前额叶皮层（PFC）的功能障碍与LTM的缺陷有关。研究阐明了特定PFC亚区实施的认知控制过程的性质及其与LTM的关系，可以为此类疾病的新诊断和治疗方法提供相关基础。目前的项目将利用事件相关功能磁共振成像（fMRI）和事件相关脑电位（ERP）实验的聚合证据来测试由前额叶组织的新理论产生的预测。第一个具体目标是确定不同的侧向PFC区域如何促进LTM的形成。四个与事件相关的fMRI实验将验证PFC的腹侧区域通过选择和维持目标相关的项目表征来调节LTM的形成，而背侧PFC区域通过形成和操纵多个在记忆中活跃的项目之间的关系来调节LTM的形成。第二个具体目标是明确前PFC对LTM检索的贡献。我将测试前PFC对于指定将用于做出记忆决定的信息类型至关重要的假设。这一假说对检索过程中前侧PFC恢复的时间和功能特征做出了具体的预测。这一假设将在三个功能磁共振成像和三个ERP研究中与竞争的说法进行对比，这些研究将分别检查PFC在选择和维持记忆决策标准以及成功的记忆检索过程中的活动。这些研究的结果将有助于发展一种理论，从认知和神经上描述与记忆有关的特定前额叶区域实施的过程。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Higher order cognition depends critically on the ability to form and retrieve lasting memories for events, or episodic long-term memory (LTM). The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is thought to play a critical role in the implementation of cognitive control processes that guide LTM formation and retrieval, and dysfunction of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) in neurological (e.g., traumatic brain injury) and psychiatric (e.g., schizophrenia) disorders has been linked to deficits in LTM. Research clarifying the nature of cognitive control processes implemented by specific PFC subregions and their relationship to LTM can provide a relevant foundation for new diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to such conditions. The current project will utilize converging evidence from event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and event-related brain potential (ERP) experiments to test predictions generated from a novel theory of prefrontal organization. The first specific aim is to specify how different lateral PFC regions contribute to LTM formation. Four event-related fMRI experiments will test the hypothesis that ventrolateral regions of PFC modulate LTM formation through the selection and maintenance of goal-relevant item representations, whereas dorsolateral PFC regions through the formation and manipulation of relations between multiple items that are active in memory. The second specific aim is to specify how anterior PFC contributes to LTM retrieval. I will test the hypothesis that anterior PFC is critical for specifying the kinds of information that will be used to make a memory decision. This hypothesis makes specific predictions about both the timing and the functional characteristics of anterior PFC recruitment during retrieval. This hypothesis will be contrasted against competing accounts in three fMRI and three ERP studies that will separately examine PFC activity during the selection and maintenance of memory decision criteria and during successful memory retrieval. Results from these studies will enable the development of a theory that characterizes, both cognitively and neurally, the processes implemented by specific prefrontal regions that relate to memory.