Neural circuits for cognitive control

项目摘要 行为的灵活性是智力的一个重要和普遍的组成部分。大脑根据具体情况以不同的方式适应控制我们的行为。额叶皮层在灵活和适应性行为中起着重要作用，但这种认知控制的机制却知之甚少，而且经常在决定如何解释相互冲突的信息集的背景下进行研究。在这项提案中，我们的目标是系统地研究是否有不变的计算基础上的认知控制在多个不同的场景和任务，利用一个难得的机会，侵入性和直接调查的神经信号在人类大脑。此外，我们的目标是采取初步措施，通过侵入性电刺激的底层电路干扰这种认知控制信号。

Project summary Flexibility in behavior is a critical and ubiquitous component of intelligence. The brain adapts to control our behavior in different ways depending on the specific situation. Frontal cortex plays a fundamental role in flexible and adaptive behavior but the mechanisms underlying such cognitive control are poorly understood and are often studied in the context of deciding how to interpret conflicting sets of information. In this proposal we aim to systematically investigate whether there are invariant computations underlying cognitive control across multiple different scenarios and tasks by taking advantage of a rare opportunity to invasively and directly investigate the neural signals in the human brain. Furthermore, we aim to take initial steps towards interfering with such cognitive control signals via invasive electrical stimulation of the underlying circuits.