Study of prefrontal neural circuit controlling cognitive behavior by will or choice

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 23530972
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Experimental psychology
• Research Institution: National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology
• Principal Investigator: TAKITA Masatoshi 独立行政法人産業技術総合研究所, ヒューマンライフテクノロジー研究部門, 主任研究員 (40344204)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): HUJIWARA Sei-Etsu 聖マリアンナ医科大学, 医学部, 講師 (10440322)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): KIKUSUI Takefumi 麻布大学, 獣医学部, 教授 (90302596)
• Project Period (FY): 2011-04-28 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 前頭前野 / 海馬 / 扁桃体 / ドーパミン / 記憶 / 意志決定 / 電気生理 / 脳内微小透析法

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Insufficient/improper behaviors toward goal-direction appear when something else occupies one’s mind. This study aimed to solve such failure of cognitive behaviors by investigating the neural mechanisms and to make coping plans on the basis of the mechanisms, being conducted beyond the influence of Great East Japan Earthquake.
Recent clinical studies have increased to report that “working memory” was disturbed by “negative feeling.” These wits were reportedly involved in the “hippocampo-prefrontal pathway” and the “prefrontal-amygdala pathway” of rats, respectively, and worked with dopaminergic transmission in the prefrontal cortex and the amygdala. We electrophysiologically and/or neurochemically analyzed above subjects, and mainly reported relationship between behavioral property and synaptic transmission of the prefrontal-amygdala pathway in early-weaned rats.

Free Research Field

生理心理学