The roles of the temporal lobe in creative insight: an integrated review

Recent studies have revealed that the temporal lobe, a cortical region thought to be in charge of episodic and semantic memory, is involved in creative insight. This work examines the contributions of discrete temporal regions to insight. Activity in the medial temporal regions is indicative of novelty recognition and detection, which is necessary for the formation of novel associations and the “Aha!” experience. The fusiform gyrus mainly affects the formation of gestalt-like representation and perspective taking. The anterior and posterior middle temporal gyri (MTG) are individually associated with extensive semantic processing and inhibiting salient or routine word associations, which are necessary to form non-salient, novel and remote associations. The anterior and posterior superior temporal gyri (STG) are individually responsible for integrating/binding and accessing various types of available conceptual representations. Based on the current knowledge, an integrated model of the temporal lobe's role in insight and some future directions are proposed.     

内生意图性抑制:自我控制研究的新视角

行为抑制的"停止信号"多来自内生意图行为"是否做"决策过程最后时刻内生性否定指示(即内生意图性抑制),而非环境提前设定。因无法用行为指标(错误率、反应时)评估,需将"自由选择"范式结合f MRI、EEG等技术测量与之相关的脑神经、自主神经生理特点;此外,范式中加入的刺激阈下启动、情绪信息影响了内生意图性抑制的加工过程。未来从三个方面拓展研究:(1)明确背内侧额叶皮质的心理机制;(2)探索人格特质的影响;(3)"停止信号"内生日常化。     

Laboratory of functional neuroelectrical imaging and brain–computer interfacing at Fondazione Santa Lucia

The laboratory of functional neuroelectrical imaging and brain–computer interfacing at Fondazione Santa Lucia is based on the joint work of researchers with a bioengineering and clinical neurophysiology background. The activity is mainly devoted to two aims: the non-invasive investigation of the motor cortical function under physiological and pathological conditions, through the development of advanced processing methods of the electroencephalographic signals; the development of a real-time EEG-based brain–computer interface (BCI) and the study of its use as an aid to enhance (or even to allow) the functional independence of persons with different degrees of motor disability.     

脑可塑性研究综述

本文简要总结了脑可塑性实验研究的三个方面：(1)脑损伤的研究,(2)学习和训练的脑可塑研究,(3)双语习得的研究。目前研究脑可塑的一个重要方向是通过学习和训练,考察认知成分的获得与大脑皮层活动状态变化之间的关系。这些研究说明大脑的成熟是一个动态发展的过程,它的结构和功能在一定程度上具有可塑性。     

THE EPIC OF PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT AND THE MYSTERY OF SMALL WORKING MEMORY

Abstract. A partial analogy exists between the lifespan neuropsychological development of individuals and the biological evolution of species: In both of these major categories of growth, progressive emergence of wholes transcends inherently limited part‐processes. The remarkably small purview of each moment of consciousness experienced by an individual may be a crucial aspect of maintaining organization in that individual's cognitive development, protecting it from combinatorial chaos. In this essay I summarize experimental psychology research showing that working memory capacity comprises the so‐called magical number 7±2 items, not only for words and digits but for spatial items and other sorts of cognitive materials, and not only in humans but also in other species. This is so to such an extent that 7±2 may be a “constant of nature.” The small quantity range 7±2 independent items, which builds upon a more elementary, instantaneous working memory capacity of three or four items, is surprisingly independent of the time duration of a cognitive task. Moreover, it is largely independent of ontogeny. Explanations of these powerful facts about working memory are offered here within both a functionalistic framework and a framework of hypothetical neural processes. At the neural level, working memory dynamics may comprise certain brain wave harmonics or topological relationships in the sheetlike cortex. Within the functionalistic framework, I suggest an additional analogy, pertaining to cultural evolution, with Tom Gilbert's work on risk analysis and “the global problematic” that follows from unforeseen consequences of the expansiveness of human ambition. Several connections are drawn with ideas presented by participants in the Chicago Religion and Science Group about how theologies and sciences try to understand the possibility of adaptive exercises of human freedom in the face of the extreme finiteness of each human individual.     

计时和计数的相似与差异

计时指判断时距的长短, 计数指辨别刺激呈现数目的多少。研究者发现计时和计数具有相似性, 表现在类似的基本原理, 对时间和数目的记忆都受到时间延迟的影响, 跨通道效应类似, 而且药物对它们的影响一致。模式控制模型认为计时和计数共享同一机制, 量值理论的观点是时间和数目等不同维度具有部分重叠的同一表征形式。计时和计数都激活了前额、顶叶、小脑等区域, 但两者在行为结果和激活的脑区上也有部分差异。计时和计数具有同一表征还是两者独立加工, 只在对比反应阶段存在共同机制仍需要进一步研究。     

Pre‐frontal‐insular‐cerebellar modifications correlate with disgust feeling blunting after subthalamic stimulation: A positron emission tomography study in Parkinson's disease

Subthalamic nucleus (STN) deep brain stimulation (DBS) has recently advanced our understanding of the major role played by this basal ganglion in human emotion. Research indicates that STN DBS can induce modifications in all components of emotion, and neuroimaging studies have shown that the metabolic modifications correlated with these emotional disturbances following surgery are both task‐ and sensory input‐dependent. Nevertheless, to date, these modifications have not been confirmed for all emotional components, notably subjective emotional experience, or feelings. To identify the neural network underlying the modification of feelings following STN DBS, we assessed 16 patients with Parkinson's disease before and after surgery, using both subjective assessments of emotional experience and ¹⁸[F]fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (¹⁸FDG‐PET). The patients viewed six film excerpts intended to elicit happy, angry, fearful, sad, disgusted, and neutral feelings, and they self‐rated the intensity of these feelings. After DBS, there was a significant reduction in the intensity of the disgust feeling. Correlations were observed between decreased disgust experience and cerebral glucose metabolism (FDG uptake) in the bilateral pre‐frontal cortices (orbitofrontal, dorsolateral, and inferior frontal gyri), bilateral insula, and right cerebellum. We suggest that the STN contributes to the synchronization process underlying the emergence of feelings.     

Contribution of the parafascicular nucleus in the spontaneous object recognition task

The parafascicular (PF) nucleus, a posterior component of the intralaminar nuclei of the thalamus, is considered to be an essential structure in the feedback systems of basal ganglia–thalamo-cortical circuits critically involved in cognitive processes. The specific role played by multimodal information encoded in PF neurons in learning and memory processes is still unclear. We conducted two experiments to investigate the role of the PF in the spontaneous object recognition (SOR) task. The behavioral effects of pretraining rats with bilateral lesions of PF with N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) were compared to vehicle controls. In the first experiment, rats were tested on their ability to remember the association immediately after training trials and in the second experiment after a 24 h delay. Our findings provide evidence that PF lesions critically affect both SOR tests and support its role in that non-spatial form of relational memory.     

Septal area lesions impair spatial working memory in homing pigeons (Columba livia)

The septo-hippocampal system in birds resembles that of mammals, motivating research into the function of the avian hippocampus while surprisingly little attention has been given to the septum. To investigate a possible role of the avian septum in memory, the effects of septal area lesions on a spatial working memory (SpWM) task was tested in homing pigeons. After preoperative training on an analogue eight-arm (feeders) radial maze, now sham-operated control and septal lesioned pigeons were then trained again on the same task of locating the four feeders on the test phase of a trial that were not baited during the sample phase of a trial. During the test phase of a working memory trial, septal lesioned pigeons, compared to both their own preoperative performance and the performance of the controls, required significantly more choices to locate the four baited feeders not baited during the sample phase of a trial, and they made significantly fewer correct responses to the now baited feeders on their first four choices. The results demonstrate that, like its mammalian counterpart, the avian septum plays an important role in SpWM, suggesting that at least some functional properties of the septum are evolutionarily conserved in birds and mammals.     

大脑皮层-背侧纹状体通路在吗啡强迫性觅药和用药行为中的作用

药物成瘾是以强迫性觅药和用药行为为核心特征的慢性脑疾病。从初始用药到强迫性用药是成瘾者的觅药行为从目标导向性向习惯化发展的过程。强迫性觅药和用药行为是依赖于背外侧纹状体的习惯化行为, 同时前额叶皮层-背内侧纹状体通路对行为的控制减弱, 导致感觉运动皮层-背外侧纹状体通路对行为的控制持续占主导地位, 是成瘾行为具有强迫性特征的重要神经基础。本项目围绕这一重要问题展开研究, 在建立具有成瘾特征的动物模型的基础上, 采用行为学、行为药理学和组织形态学等方法揭示皮层-纹状体通路在强迫性觅药和用药行为中的作用。研究结果有望为进一步寻找该神经网络参与成瘾行为的分子机制提供重要线索。