ANATOMICAL BASIS OF DISORDERS OF EXECUTIVE FUNCTION

该项目的总体目标是调查推理和决策的神经生物学基础，以特定的理论框架“躯体标记假说”为指导。该假说认为，个人和社会领域的决策缺陷是情感相关信号（“躯体标记”）的参与缺陷的结果，这些信号通常会秘密或公开地运作，以促进做出有利选择的过程。在目前的资助期内，我们研究了神经网络的解剖学，生理学和认知方面，这些神经网络被认为是躯体标记激活和决策的基础。我们证实，功能障碍的腹内侧（VM）前额皮质导致未能制定躯体状态和决策缺陷。然而，其他神经区域的病变，包括杏仁核和躯体感觉皮层（SII，SI和SII）也会损害躯体状态激活和决策，这表明这几个区域是参与决策的神经系统的一部分。在迄今为止所获得的结果的指导下，我们提出的新研究旨在定义这些成分所起的功能作用，以及我们在这里提出的其他功能作用。这些研究要求在认知和心理生理学实验中使用损伤方法来测试几个假设中的几个假设。决策障碍是“执行障碍综合征”的一个显著特征，见于中风、头部损伤和脑肿瘤。这种障碍在药物成瘾、精神病和边缘性人格障碍中也很普遍。我们的研究结果将有助于理解正常和病理机制的决策，并导致新的行为和药物管理策略的发展。

The overall aim of this project is the investigation of the neurobiological basis of reasoning and decision-making, guided by a specific theoretical framework, the "somatic marker hypothesis". The hypothesis posits that decision-making defects in the personal and social realms are the result of defective engagement of emotion related signals ("somatic markers") that normally operate, covertly or overtly, to facilitate the process of making advantageous choices. In the current funding period, we have investigate anatomical, physiological, and cognitive aspects of a neural network presumed to underlie somatic marker activation and decision making. We confirmed that dysfunction in the ventromedial (VM) prefrontal cortex leads to a failure to enact somatic states and to decision-making defects. However, lesions in other neural regions, including the amygdala and the somatosensory cortices (SII, SI, and insula) also compromise somatic state activation and decision-making, suggesting that these several regions are part of a neural system involved in decision-making. Guided by the results obtained so far, the new studies we propose aim at defining the functional roles played by these components, and by others we propose here. The studies call for the testing of several hypotheses of several hypotheses using the lesion approached in cognitive and psychophysiological experiments. Disorders of decision-making are A prominent feature of the "dysexecutive syndrome" seen in stroke, head injury, and brain tumors. Such disorders are also prevalent in drug addiction, psychopathy, and borderline personality disorder. Our results will contribute to the understanding of normal and pathological mechanisms of decision- making and lead to the development of novel behavioral and pharmacological management strategies.