Cognitive neuroscience study of relation between cogniton and emotion, and decision-making in developmental disorders

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25461540
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Pediatrics
• Research Institution: University of Yamanashi
• Principal Investigator: AIHARA Masao 山梨大学, 総合研究部, 教授 (30242639)
• Research Collaborator: KANEMURA Hideaki
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 認知神経科学 / 前頭葉機能 / 意思決定 / 情動反応 / 瞳孔計 / 発達障害

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In daily life, we perform repeated decision-making, considering several choices in uncertain circumstances. The pretofront cortex, which is center of cognitive/emotional neuronal network, is an important region for the ability to make decision. We hypothesize that autonomic emotional responses can affect decision-making.
The aim of our reseach was to clarify the involvement of the autonomic system during an executive functional task via developmental changes assessed using pupillometry. Subjects were 16 healthy children (7-14 years), 13 cildren with ADHD and 9 healthy adults. Pupil diameter was recorded using an eye mark recorder during cognitive shift (CS) in the Wisconsin card sorting test. The change of pupillary diameter was increased with CS in adults. Changes of pupillary diameter with CS in ADHD showed significantly lower than those in healthy children. Our study suggest that autonomic emotional response play an important role as a part of the process for decision-making.

Free Research Field

認知神経科学