Uncertainty, Cognitive Control, and the Brain

描述（由申请人提供）：认知控制的神经相关性已经使用各种神经成像技术进行了广泛的研究。某些理论解释了前扣带皮层（ACC）在网络中的主要作用，假设这些网络是冲突监测和解决的基础。然而，事实证明，这些账户的范围有限。我们认为，冲突只是一个特殊情况下的不确定性，可以量化为信息熵，基于信息理论框架。结合额顶扣带系统中区域的功能激活与需要认知控制的各种行为任务的反应时间表现之间存在的鲁棒关系，以及在ACC中发现的一类特殊神经元的观察，这些神经元非常适合于认知控制中涉及的分布式区域之间的信息的快速和长距离整合，我们提出了一个认知控制的额顶扣带系统模型，其中ACC在信号不确定性中起着重要作用。为了验证这一模型，我们设计了一系列实验，采用不同的信息论测量方法，并提出将额顶扣带回系统的功能活动和连通性作为信息熵的函数进行检验 使用功能性磁共振成像。这项研究不仅挑战了当前的认知控制理论，而且在认知神经科学领域以及各种主要精神疾病中认知控制中断的研究中产生了广泛的影响。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The neural correlates of cognitive control have been studied extensively using various neuroimaging techniques. Certain theoretical accounts posit a major role of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) in networks hypothesized to underlie conflict monitoring and resolution. However, the scope of these accounts has proven limited. We argue that conflict is only a special case of uncertainty that can be quantified as information entropy, based on an information theory framework. In conjunction with the existence of a robust relationship between functional activation of regions in a frontoparietocingulate system and reaction time performance across various behavioral tasks requiring cognitive control, as well as observation of a special class of neurons found in the ACC that are well suited for rapid and long distance integration of information among distributed regions involved in cognitive control, we propose a frontoparietocingulate system model of cognitive control in which the ACC plays a major role in signaling uncertainty. In order to test this model, we have designed a series of experiments with various information theoretic measures and propose to examine functional activity and connectivity of the frontoparietocingulate system as a function of information entropy using functional magnetic resonance imaging. This study not only challenges the current theories of cognitive control, but also has a wide ranging impact within the field of cognitive neuroscience as well as studies on the disruption of cognitive control in a variety of major psychiatric disorders.