Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Guillaume Herbet, Hugues Duffau
Summary: The study investigates the role of associative networks in spatial neglect through lesion mapping and disconnection analyses. The results demonstrate that surgical resections disrupting the dorsal-medial fiber network in the supplementary and cingulate eye fields are specifically associated with impaired performance on the visuo-motor exploratory neglect task, while performance on perception-related tasks remains intact. This provides causal evidence for the involvement of the frontal-medial network in the voluntary deployment of visuo-spatial attention.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2022)
Article
Biology
Christian H. Poth
Summary: In urgent situations, behavior tends to be driven by external stimuli rather than individual goals, affecting both eye movements and manual tasks. This phenomenon is not specific to eye movement control mechanisms, but rather a general overcoming of cognitive control by urgency.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Domenica Veniero, Joachim Gross, Stephanie Morand, Felix Duecker, Alexander T. Sack, Gregor Thut
Summary: The activation of the Frontal Eye Fields can shape visual cortex activity and perception through mechanisms of oscillatory realignment at the beta frequency.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
Nils Kolling, Marius Braunsdorf, Suhas Vijayakumar, Harold Bekkering, Ivan Toni, Rogier B. Mars
Summary: Daily choices are often based on personal knowledge, but predicting others' behavior requires considering the differences between our own knowledge and others' presumed knowledge. The study found that different brain regions play different roles in using privileged information for personal decisions or predicting others' behavior.
JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
Yuan Zhang, Srikanth Ryali, Weidong Cai, Kaustubh Supekar, Ramkrishna Pasumarthy, Aarthi Padmanabhan, Bea Luna, Vinod Menon
Summary: The ability to adaptively respond to behaviorally relevant cues in the environment undergoes significant maturation from childhood to adulthood, and it influences the developmental trajectories of several key cognitive domains. However, little is known about the underlying causal functional circuit mechanisms. This study investigates the maturation of causal signaling mechanisms underlying voluntary control over saccades using state-space and control-theoretic modeling. The results show that directed causal interactions in a saccade network undergo significant maturation between childhood and adulthood, with the frontal eye field being an immature causal signaling hub in children. Control-theoretic analysis demonstrates that the saccade network is less controllable in children compared to adults.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Chunyu A. Duan, Yuxin Pan, Guofen Ma, Taotao Zhou, Siyu Zhang, Ning-long Xu
Summary: The study reveals dynamic coding of choice information in SC-projecting M2 neurons during motor planning and execution, with disruption of this information impairing decision maintenance. Excitatory and inhibitory SC neurons both receive synaptic inputs from M2, but display differential temporal patterns in choice coding during behavior.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
Shinya Nakamura, Yodai Kishimoto, Masaki Sekino, Motoaki Nakamura, Ken-Ichiro Tsutsui
Summary: Using low-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (LF-rTMS) to inhibit neural activity in the ventral region of the medial frontal cortex (vMFC), this study found that the vMFC plays a causal role in regulating mood and the LF-rTMS-induced dysfunction of the vMFC serves as a valid nonhuman primate model of depression. The study also demonstrated that LF-rTMS targeting the vMFC induced depression-like symptoms in monkeys, including reduced movement activity, impaired sociability, decreased motivation, and increased plasma cortisol level.
EXPERIMENTAL NEUROLOGY
(2022)
Article
Neurosciences
Charalampos Papadimitriou, Charles D. Holmes, Lawrence H. Snyder
Summary: The study finds that the dynamics of memory cells during spatial memory periods are more complex than previously thought. They suggest that memory may be supported by multiple attractor networks working in parallel, with each network having its own characteristic mean turn-off time that gradually frees up mnemonic resources over time.
Article
Neurosciences
William D. Hopkins, Emmanuel Procyk, Michael Petrides, Steven J. Schapiro, Mary Catherine Mareno, Celine Amiez
Summary: Individual differences in the presence of PCGS and variability in CGS depth are associated with oro-facial motor control, handedness, and sex in chimpanzees. Chimpanzees with better motor control are more likely to have PCGS, showing left hemisphere bias, with males exhibiting increased leftward asymmetry in CGS depth. The population-level asymmetries in CGS and ILS suggest evolutionary responses to selection for increased motor control in primates.
Article
Neurosciences
Thomas Akam, Ines Rodrigues-Vaz, Ivo Marcelo, Xiangyu Zhang, Michael Pereira, Rodrigo Freire Oliveira, Peter Dayan, Rui M. Costa
Summary: Behavioral control consists of parallel systems, model based and model free, and the anterior cingulate cortex plays a critical role in predicting actions and their consequences. ACC represents the complete state space of a task and is necessary for updating model-based strategies.
Article
Neurosciences
Rossella Falcone, Rossella Cirillo, Francesco Ceccarelli, Aldo Genovesio
Summary: Making decisions based on the actions of others is crucial in daily interpersonal interactions. This study investigated how the brain represents the actions of others at the single neural level in the posterior medial prefrontal cortex (pmPFC). The results suggest that pmPFC neurons show selective directional tuning specific to the agent executing the task, and there is a strong relationship between action anticipation and execution.
Review
Neurosciences
Saeed Yasin, Anjel Fierst, Harper Keenan, Amelia Knapp, Katrina Gallione, Tessa Westlund, Sydney Kirschner, Sahana Vaidya, Christina Qiu, Audrey Rougebec, Elodie Morss, Jack Lebiedzinski, Maya Dejean, Julian Paul Keenan
Summary: This article introduces self-enhancement (SE) as a fundamental cognitive ability mediated via the prefrontal cortex (PFC), and explores the relationship between SE, PFC, and evolved beneficial mechanisms. The article argues that SE is a normal core psychological construct in the self, and the significant development of the PFC in Homo sapiens is partly for sustaining SE.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Bernardo Stutz, Michael J. Waterson, Matija Sestan-Pesa, Marcelo O. Dietrich, Mario Skarica, Nenad Sestan, Bence Racz, Aletta Magyar, Peter Sotonyi, Zhong-Wu Liu, Xiao-Bing Gao, Ferenc Matyas, Milan Stoiljkovic, Tamas L. Horvath
Summary: This study reveals the important role of hypothalamic AgRP neurons in the control of neuronal pathways that regulate higher-order brain functions during development and adulthood. Impairment or inhibition of AgRP neurons leads to changes in the medial prefrontal cortex, affecting network activity, sensorimotor gating, and ambulatory behavior. These effects are transduced via dopaminergic neurons and may also involve medial thalamic neurons.
MOLECULAR PSYCHIATRY
(2022)
Editorial Material
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Robert M. McPeek
Summary: Neurons governing saccadic eye movements multiplex signals related to sensation, cognition, and movement. A new study reveals that the initiation of saccade is controlled by the temporal stability of rising population activity.
Article
Neurosciences
Lorenzo Ferrucci, Simon Nougaret, Rossella Falcone, Rossella Cirillo, Francesco Ceccarelli, Aldo Genovesio
Summary: Social neurophysiology investigates how the brain represents self and other, with a focus on the frontal cortex. Experimental paradigms, social partner type, and interaction type impact the research findings. The mirror and mentalizing sociocognitive systems are involved in processing different aspects of social information, such as observing and predicting others' actions and monitoring others' rewards.
Article
Neurosciences
Nils Kolling, Jacqueline Scholl, Adam Chekroud, Hailey A. Trier, Matthew F. S. Rushworth
Article
Neurosciences
Davide Folloni, Lennart Verhagen, Rogier B. Mars, Elsa Fouragnan, Charlotte Constans, Jean-Francois Aubry, Matthew F. S. Rushworth, Jerome Sallet
Article
Neurosciences
Lev Tankelevitch, Eelke Spaak, Matthew F. S. Rushworth, Mark G. Stokes
JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
(2020)
Article
Psychology, Biological
Nadescha Trudel, Jacqueline Scholl, Miriam C. Klein-Flugge, Elsa Fouragnan, Lev Tankelevitch, Marco K. Wittmann, Matthew F. S. Rushworth
Summary: In a study conducted by Trudel et al., it was found that the ventromedial prefrontal cortex carries multiple decision variables with varying strength and polarity depending on the behavioral context. Initially, participants tend to select predictors with higher uncertainty, but as time progresses, they shift towards more accurate predictors and avoid uncertain ones. This transition is accompanied by changes in representations of belief uncertainty in the vmPFC.
NATURE HUMAN BEHAVIOUR
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Alessandro Bongioanni, Davide Folloni, Lennart Verhagen, Jerome Sallet, Miriam C. Klein-Flugge, Matthew F. S. Rushworth
Summary: The study found that the primate medial frontal cortex plays a key role in creatively inferring the value of new options in novel decision-making scenarios. Functional magnetic resonance imaging revealed that MFC carries out different comparison processes for unfamiliar and familiar options, using a multidimensional representation scheme resembling that of grid cells.
Review
Neurosciences
Ilya E. Monosov, Matthew F. S. Rushworth
Summary: Hypotheses and beliefs play a crucial role in guiding credit assignment, especially in uncertain and changing environments. The interconnected frontal cortical regions facilitate the linking of information seeking and credit assignment at the neural circuit level.
NEUROPSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Alejandra Sel, Lennart Verhagen, Katharina Angerer, Raluca David, Miriam C. Klein-Fluegge, Matthew F. S. Rushworth
Summary: This study investigated the impact of manipulating the strength of coupling between the ventral premotor cortex (PMv) and primary motor cortex (M1) on oscillatory activity in the motor system. It was found that enhancing cortical connectivity between PMv and M1 increased oscillatory beta and theta rhythms, while decreasing the influence of PMv over M1 decreased these rhythms. This suggests that corticocortical communication frequencies in the PMv-M1 pathway can be manipulated through specific stimulation.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2021)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Nima Khalighinejad, Sanjay Manohar, Masud Husain, Matthew F. S. Rushworth
Summary: Decision-making involves choosing actions, as well as determining when and whether to initiate them. Different brain regions, such as DRN, BF, and ACC, contribute to different stages of decision-making, with 5-HT and ACh playing complementary roles.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Nima Khalighinejad, Neil Garrett, Luke Priestley, Patricia Lockwood, Matthew F. S. Rushworth
Summary: The study reveals the core feature of voluntary behavior in deciding to act rather than refrain from acting, involving the formation of willingness to act and the coordination of brain regions. Willingness to act is influenced by rewards and other contextual features, regulated by the Habenula and anterior insula. Additionally, the network transmits information through multiple layers to make decisions.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Davide Folloni, Elsa Fouragnan, Marco K. Wittmann, Lea Roumazeilles, Lev Tankelevitch, Lennart Verhagen, David Attali, Jean-Francois Aubry, Jerome Sallet, Matthew F. S. Rushworth
Summary: Credit assignment is the process of associating rewards with specific events. Without proper credit assignment, choice values and decision-making abilities can be impaired.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Jacqueline Scholl, Hailey A. Trier, Matthew F. S. Rushworth, Nils Kolling
Summary: Individual differences in sequential decision-making, such as apathy linked to decision inertia and compulsivity linked to cost insensitivity, can be associated with behavioral traits related to psychological illness. Participants were aware of their biases but did not significantly preempt them in the task, indicating a potential misalignment of metacognitive beliefs or incomplete behavioral measures.
Review
Neurosciences
Miriam C. Klein-Flugge, Alessandro Bongioanni, Matthew F. S. Rushworth
Summary: The medial frontal cortex and adjacent orbitofrontal cortex have different functional roles in decision-making, behavioral flexibility, and social behavior. Recent studies show that their representation of value and choices is more complex than previously thought.
Article
Psychology, Biological
Miriam C. Klein-Flugge, Daria E. A. Jensen, Yu Takagi, Luke Priestley, Lennart Verhagen, Stephen M. Smith, Matthew F. S. Rushworth
Summary: This study identifies specific relationships between connectivity in precise subcortical networks and mental health dimensions, using neuroimaging measures and questionnaire factor analysis, providing new insights for targeted interventions in psychiatric disorders.
NATURE HUMAN BEHAVIOUR
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Alizee Lopez-Persem, Lea Roumazeilles, Davide Folloni, Kevin Marche, Elsa F. Fouragnan, Nima Khalighinejad, Matthew F. S. Rushworth, Jerome Sallet
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2020)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Jan Grohn, Urs Schuffelgen, Franz-Xaver Neubert, Alessandro Bongioanni, Lennart Verhagen, Jerome Sallet, Nils Kolling, Matthew F. S. Rushworth