Neural mechanism for optimization of physiological arousal level

2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K17358
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Experimental psychology
• Research Institution: Nagoya University
• Principal Investigator: Watanabe Noriya 名古屋大学, 情報学研究科, 学振特別研究員(PD) (90637133)
• Research Collaborator: Delgado Mauricio R ; Bhanji Jamil P ; Ohira Hideki ; Tanabe Hiroki C ; Haruno Masahiko
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2019-03-31
• Keywords: 生理的覚醒 / 瞳孔 / fMRI / 扁桃体 / 尾状核 / 腹内側前頭前野 / Dynamic causal modeling

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Preparing for a challenging task with high stakes can increase physiological arousal. In this case, it is important to control reward-driven arousal while preparing for task execution. We examined how reward stakes and driven arousal are represented in the brain. We further verified how prefrontal cortex controls the arousal change.
As results, failure trials were characterized by increased pupil size as a function of reward magnitude. Such failure trials were also associated with activity of the right amygdala representing pupil dilation, and the left caudate representing reward magnitude. On the other hand, VMPFC showed activity that was negatively correlated with arousal. Next we tested the effective network across these three regions. This analysis showed that amygdala activation was suppressively controlled by the VMPFC only in success trials. These findings highlight the importance of the modulation from VMPFC to amygdala in order to control arousal for successful performance.

Free Research Field

実験心理学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

アスリートや、レスキュー、警察など、極度の緊張状態でも冷静に高いパフォーマンスを上げることが要求される人々がどのように自身の緊張をコントロールして最適な意思決定やパフォーマンスを実現できるかその脳内メカニズムを神経科学的な立場から解明した。この研究結果は、そのような人々に科学的根拠に基づいた知見を提供することができる。また、社交性不安障害など、人前に立つと極度の緊張から本来のパフォーマンスを発揮できないことに不自由を感じている人々への新しいトレーニング方法開発にもつながる研究である。