2020 Fiscal Year Final Research Report
Functional subdivision in macaque lateral prefrontal cortex revealed by cognitive test battery
Project/Area Number |
18K03197
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Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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Allocation Type | Multi-year Fund |
Section | 一般 |
Review Section |
Basic Section 10040:Experimental psychology-related
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Research Institution | Osaka University |
Principal Investigator |
Watanabe Kei 大阪大学, 生命機能研究科, 助教 (00772740)
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Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
平田 雅之 大阪大学, 医学系研究科, 特任教授(常勤) (30372626)
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Project Period (FY) |
2018-04-01 – 2021-03-31
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Keywords | 霊長類 / ニューロン活動 / Local field potential / 前頭連合野 |
Outline of Final Research Achievements |
We examined functional subdivisions in nonhuman primate LPFC. We recorded neuron activity in areas 10, 46 and 8 in three monkeys while they performed 7 tasks: (1) visual flash observation; (2) reward consumption;(3) oculomotor delayed-response task; (4) visuospatial attention task; (5) cognitive branching task comprised of tasks 3 and 4; (6) visual object discrimination task, and (7) cognitive branching task comprised of tasks 4 and 7. The results showed that task-relevant activity was almost exclusively observed in the posterior LPFC, while anterior region (FP-PFC) showed much weaker response. Few neurons in FP-PFC showed task-related activity even in cognitive branching tasks and rapid-learning task that had been believed to selectively activate FP-PFC. FP-PFC exhibited notable activity only in feedback time. The results suggest that there is distinct functional subdivision along the anterior-posterior axis of LPFC in monkey, but in a different way from that proposed for humans.
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Free Research Field |
神経生理学
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Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements |
前頭極は,高次認知機能を担う前頭連合野の最前部に位置し,最高次の認知機能を担うとされている.しかし,前頭極の神経活動の記録や,選択的機能阻害を行った研究は数例のみであり,生理学データに基づく前頭極機能の理解は殆ど進んでいなかった.本研究は,サル前頭極が何に対して強く応答するのかを多面的に検討した.その結果,サルの前頭極は,ヒト前頭極とは大きく異なる性質を持つことが示された.つまり,ヒト前頭極は進化の過程で,他の霊長類と比較してより一層複雑な情報処理を行う領域になったと考えられる.つまり,前頭極こそが,ヒトをヒトたらしめる脳領域であると考えられる.
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