My quotations from: The Prefrontal Cortex: Minireview
Complex Neural Properties for Complex Behavior
Earl K. Miller*
Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences and The Center for Learning and Memory
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139
...
The PF cortex is a collection of cortical areas in the most anterior portion of the frontal lobes (Figure 1). It has long been associated with high-level, “executive” processes needed for voluntary goal-directed behavior. Its damage in humans does not produce a single, characteristic deficit. Rather, it results in disturbances in a variety of functions, including attention, memory, response selection, planning, and inhibitory control.
Studies of the neural basis of PF function in monkeys focused primarily on active short-term, or working memory. They have revealed that when a delay is imposed between a visual stimulus and a response based on it, many PF neurons show sustained stimulus-related activity (Goldman-Rakic, 1994; Fuster, 1995). Because sensory inputs are often fleeting, this short-term maintenance may be fundamental to many cognitive functions. However, complex behavior requires more than temporary storage. Relevant sensory inputs need to be selected and integrated with other information common to the goal at hand. Also needed are the executive mechanisms that determine, for example, which stimuli are relevant and should be selected. Much less is known about the neural basis of these higher functions.
...
In many views of cognition, the type of executive control thought to be mediated by the PF cortex is synonymous with attentional selection, that is, the ability to voluntarily focus awareness on certain sensory inputs, thoughts, or actions. Selection is necessary because higher-order cognitive functions are severely limited in capacity. Indeed, at a given moment we are aware of only a small fraction of available sensory information.
Given these capacity limitations, the ability to ignore distractions and select behaviorally relevant information is critical. Evidence that the lateral PF cortex is involved in selection processes comes from a number of studies, including a recent study by Rainer et al. (1998b)
...
Earlier target selection in the PF cortex suggests that the visual cortex may “inherit” target information from the PF cortex. That is, that the PF cortex may be a source of the top-down signals that mediate attentional selection in the visual cortex (Desimone and Duncan.)
Complex behavior, however, depends on more than selecting sensory information. To benefit from past experience, we must be able to select (recall) stored knowledge. Watanabe (1996) demonstrated this ability in PF neurons. He found that when monkeys could predict that a specific reward would appear (e.g., raisins, cabbage, etc.), the activity of many PF neurons reflected that expected reward. This ability to prospectively” code predicted events is thus critical for choosing among response alternatives.
Integration
Sensory processing is highly fragmented. Even within a modality, different stimulus attributes may be separately processed. The primate cortical visual system, for example, is thought to analyze the form and color information to identify a stimulus (i.e., what it is) largely from information about stimulus location (i.e., where it is). An area involved in complex behavior, however, needs to have access to diverse information.
Even actions almost invariably require satisfying multiple, diverse constraints. When I search for my coffee cup, for example, I have in mind not only what it looks like but also where it is likely to be. So, somewhere and somehow, diverse information such as what and where needs to come together. Given its role in organizing behavior and its extensive connections, the PF cortex seems a likely region where integration might be evident, particularly when integration is needed for behavior.
...
Other studies have also found that many PF neurons process both object identity and location.
...
Interconnections between different PF regions (Figure 1) could result in a population of PF neurons with multimodal properties.
Associative Learning, Rules, Context, and Cognitive Control
The complexity of primate behavior is partially attributable to the fact that primates can acquire new goals and manners of achieving them. Not surprisingly, the PF cortex is thought to be central to this ability. Its executive role in brain function has been hypothesized to result from the acquisition and representation of “rules” that guide goal-directed behavior.
Rule learning depends on forming arbitrary associations between disparate, but behaviorally related, information. We learn that “red” means “stop,” for example. The PF cortex seems well positioned to play a role in associative learning. It is interconnected with all sensory systems, with the motor system, and with limbic structures involved in long-term memory and affect; it is truly “association cortex.”
...
Thus, PF activity can reflect stimuli, associated actions, and expected consequences.
...
Cohen and colleagues have suggested how the ability of PF neurons to reflect conjunctions of behaviorally related information might result in mechanisms for executive control. They posit that control emanates from representation of context (Cohen and Servan-Schreiber, 1992). Context is the constellation of task-relevant information needed to guide a given behavior.
...
Top-down signals from the PF cortex are excitatory and represent the to-be-attended item. These signals increase activity of neurons that process the relevant information and, by virtue of the mutual inhibition, suppress activity of neurons processing irrelevant information. Context representations may act in a similar fashion. However, rather than convey only visual attributes, context representations are thought to be multimodal and include information about stimuli, actions, etc., that have become associated through experience. Thus, they can bias motor as well as sensory processing and also allow appropriate actions to be selected and executed.
Conclusions
Recent studies have shown that, consistent with their putative role in the highest level of cognitive function, PF neurons have complex response properties that are highly dependent on, and shaped by, task demands. They selectively process and integrate information needed for a common behavioral goal. Thus, its extensive connections and the ability of its neurons to be modified by experience may allow the PF cortex to play a role in knitting together behaviorally relevant associations, a process needed for acquisition of “rules” that guide goal-directed behavior. This may result in a representation of context, a template of a previously successful configuration of sensory and response-related information that biases processing in other brain regions in favor of task-relevant information. Such complicated and malleable activity would be expected for a region so closely linked with the complexity and flexibility that are the hallmarks of primate behavior.
13 Nisan 2012 Cuma
10 Mart 2012 Cumartesi
Emotion Regulation
My quotations from:
Emotion Regulation: Conceptual Foundations Date: 3/22/06
James J. Gross (Stanford Uni), Ross A Thompson (Uni of California, Davis)
...
Emotion Regulation and Related Processes
...
emotion regulation refers to the heterogeneous set of processes by which emotions are themselves regulated. Emotion regulatory processes may be automatic or controlled, conscious or unconscious, and may have their effects at one or more points in the emotion generative process
Because emotions are multi-componential processes that unfold over time, emotion regulation involves changes in “emotion dynamics” (Thompson, 1990), or the latency, rise time, magnitude, duration, and offset of responses in behavioral, experiential, or physiological domains. Emotion regulation may dampen, intensify, or simply maintain emotion, depending on an individual’s goals. Emotion regulation also may change the degree to which emotion response components cohere as the emotion unfolds, such as when large changes in emotion experience and physiological responding occur in the absence of facial behavior.
One as-yet unresolved issue is whether emotion regulation refers to intrinsic processes (Fred regulates his own emotions: emotion regulation in self), to extrinsic processes (Sally regulates Bob’s emotions: emotion regulation in other), or to both. In general, researchers in the adult literature typically focus on intrinsic processes (Gross, 1998). By contrast, researchers in the developmental literature focus more on extrinsic processes.
Core Features of Emotion Regulation
...
Emotion Regulation and Related Constructs
..., we see emotion regulation as subordinate to the broader construct of affect regulation. Under this broad heading fall all manner of efforts to influence our valenced responses (Westen, 1994).
... affect regulation includes (among other things) four overlapping constructs: (a) coping, (b) emotion regulation, (c) mood regulation, and (d) psychological defenses.
...
Emotion Regulation Strategies
...These five points represent five families of emotion regulation processes: situation selection, situation modification, attentional deployment, cognitive change, and response modulation (Gross, 1998b).
...the first four emotion regulation families may be considered antecedent-focused, in that they occur before appraisals give rise to full-blown emotional response tendencies, and may be contrasted with response-focused emotion regulation, which occurs after the responses are generated (Gross & Munoz, 1995).
Situation Selection
The most forward-looking approach to emotion regulation is situation selection. This type of emotion regulation involves taking actions that make it more (or less) likely that one will end up in a situation one expects will give rise to desirable (or undesirable) emotions.
Another barrier to effective situation selection is appropriately weighing short-term benefits of emotion regulation versus longer-term costs. For example, a shy person may feel much better in the short term if she avoids social situations. However, this short-term relief may
come at the cost of longer term social isolation.
Situation Modification
Potentially emotion-eliciting situations – such as the approach of the terrifying barber in
the example above – do not inevitably lead to emotional responses. After all, one can always ask to wait until a less frightening barber is free. Such efforts to directly modify the situation so as to alter its emotional impact constitute a potent form of emotion regulation.
Attentional Deployment
Situation selection and situation modification help shape the individual’s situation. However, it also is possible to regulate emotions without actually changing the environment. Situations have many aspects, and attentional deployment refers to how individuals direct their attention within a given situation in order to influence their emotions.
Distraction focuses attention on different aspects of the situation, or moves attention away from the situation altogether, such as when an infant shifts its gaze from the emotioneliciting
stimulus to decrease stimulation (Rothbart, this volume; Stifter & Moyer, 1991).
Distraction also may involve changing internal focus, such as when individuals invoke thoughts or memories that are inconsistent with the undesirable emotional state (Watts, this volume), or when an actor calls to mind an emotional incident in order to portray that emotion convincingly.
Concentration draws attention to emotional features of a situation. Wegner and Bargh (1997) have termed this “controlled starting” of emotion. When attention is repetitively directed to one’s feelings and their consequences, this is referred to as rumination. Ruminating on sad
events leads to longer and more severe depressive symptoms (Just & Alloy, 1997; Nolen-
Hoeksema, 1993).
Cognitive Change
Even after a situation has been selected, modified, and attended to, an emotional response
is by no means a foregone conclusion. Emotion requires that percepts be imbued with meaning and that individuals evaluate their capacity to manage the situation. As described above, appraisal theorists have described the cognitive steps needed to transform a percept into something that elicits emotion. Cognitive change refers to changing how one appraises the situation one is in so as to alter its emotional significance, either by changing how one thinks about the situation or about one’s capacity to manage the demands it poses.
One form of cognitive change that has received particular attention is reappraisal (Gross,
2002; John & Gross, this volume; Ochsner & Gross, this volume). This type of cognitive change involves changing a situation’s meaning in a way that alters its emotional impact. Leading subjects to reappraise negatively valenced films has been shown to result in decreased negative emotion experience.
Response Modulation
In contrast with other emotion regulatory processes, response modulation occurs late in
the emotion generative process, after response tendencies have been initiated. Response
modulation refers to influencing physiological, experiential, or behavioral responding as directly as possible. Attempts at regulating the physiological and experiential aspects of emotion are common.
Another common form of response modulation involves regulating emotion-expressive
behavior (Gross, John, & Richards, in press). A person may wish to regulate expressive behavior for many reasons, ranging from an assessment that it would be best to hide one’s true feelings from another person (e.g., hiding one’s fear when standing up to a bully) to direct prompts from a parent (e.g., in the barbershop example).
Emotion Regulation: Conceptual Foundations Date: 3/22/06
James J. Gross (Stanford Uni), Ross A Thompson (Uni of California, Davis)
...
Emotion Regulation and Related Processes
...
emotion regulation refers to the heterogeneous set of processes by which emotions are themselves regulated. Emotion regulatory processes may be automatic or controlled, conscious or unconscious, and may have their effects at one or more points in the emotion generative process
Because emotions are multi-componential processes that unfold over time, emotion regulation involves changes in “emotion dynamics” (Thompson, 1990), or the latency, rise time, magnitude, duration, and offset of responses in behavioral, experiential, or physiological domains. Emotion regulation may dampen, intensify, or simply maintain emotion, depending on an individual’s goals. Emotion regulation also may change the degree to which emotion response components cohere as the emotion unfolds, such as when large changes in emotion experience and physiological responding occur in the absence of facial behavior.
One as-yet unresolved issue is whether emotion regulation refers to intrinsic processes (Fred regulates his own emotions: emotion regulation in self), to extrinsic processes (Sally regulates Bob’s emotions: emotion regulation in other), or to both. In general, researchers in the adult literature typically focus on intrinsic processes (Gross, 1998). By contrast, researchers in the developmental literature focus more on extrinsic processes.
Core Features of Emotion Regulation
...
Emotion Regulation and Related Constructs
..., we see emotion regulation as subordinate to the broader construct of affect regulation. Under this broad heading fall all manner of efforts to influence our valenced responses (Westen, 1994).
... affect regulation includes (among other things) four overlapping constructs: (a) coping, (b) emotion regulation, (c) mood regulation, and (d) psychological defenses.
...
Emotion Regulation Strategies
...These five points represent five families of emotion regulation processes: situation selection, situation modification, attentional deployment, cognitive change, and response modulation (Gross, 1998b).
...the first four emotion regulation families may be considered antecedent-focused, in that they occur before appraisals give rise to full-blown emotional response tendencies, and may be contrasted with response-focused emotion regulation, which occurs after the responses are generated (Gross & Munoz, 1995).
Situation Selection
The most forward-looking approach to emotion regulation is situation selection. This type of emotion regulation involves taking actions that make it more (or less) likely that one will end up in a situation one expects will give rise to desirable (or undesirable) emotions.
Another barrier to effective situation selection is appropriately weighing short-term benefits of emotion regulation versus longer-term costs. For example, a shy person may feel much better in the short term if she avoids social situations. However, this short-term relief may
come at the cost of longer term social isolation.
Situation Modification
Potentially emotion-eliciting situations – such as the approach of the terrifying barber in
the example above – do not inevitably lead to emotional responses. After all, one can always ask to wait until a less frightening barber is free. Such efforts to directly modify the situation so as to alter its emotional impact constitute a potent form of emotion regulation.
Attentional Deployment
Situation selection and situation modification help shape the individual’s situation. However, it also is possible to regulate emotions without actually changing the environment. Situations have many aspects, and attentional deployment refers to how individuals direct their attention within a given situation in order to influence their emotions.
Distraction focuses attention on different aspects of the situation, or moves attention away from the situation altogether, such as when an infant shifts its gaze from the emotioneliciting
stimulus to decrease stimulation (Rothbart, this volume; Stifter & Moyer, 1991).
Distraction also may involve changing internal focus, such as when individuals invoke thoughts or memories that are inconsistent with the undesirable emotional state (Watts, this volume), or when an actor calls to mind an emotional incident in order to portray that emotion convincingly.
Concentration draws attention to emotional features of a situation. Wegner and Bargh (1997) have termed this “controlled starting” of emotion. When attention is repetitively directed to one’s feelings and their consequences, this is referred to as rumination. Ruminating on sad
events leads to longer and more severe depressive symptoms (Just & Alloy, 1997; Nolen-
Hoeksema, 1993).
Cognitive Change
Even after a situation has been selected, modified, and attended to, an emotional response
is by no means a foregone conclusion. Emotion requires that percepts be imbued with meaning and that individuals evaluate their capacity to manage the situation. As described above, appraisal theorists have described the cognitive steps needed to transform a percept into something that elicits emotion. Cognitive change refers to changing how one appraises the situation one is in so as to alter its emotional significance, either by changing how one thinks about the situation or about one’s capacity to manage the demands it poses.
One form of cognitive change that has received particular attention is reappraisal (Gross,
2002; John & Gross, this volume; Ochsner & Gross, this volume). This type of cognitive change involves changing a situation’s meaning in a way that alters its emotional impact. Leading subjects to reappraise negatively valenced films has been shown to result in decreased negative emotion experience.
Response Modulation
In contrast with other emotion regulatory processes, response modulation occurs late in
the emotion generative process, after response tendencies have been initiated. Response
modulation refers to influencing physiological, experiential, or behavioral responding as directly as possible. Attempts at regulating the physiological and experiential aspects of emotion are common.
Another common form of response modulation involves regulating emotion-expressive
behavior (Gross, John, & Richards, in press). A person may wish to regulate expressive behavior for many reasons, ranging from an assessment that it would be best to hide one’s true feelings from another person (e.g., hiding one’s fear when standing up to a bully) to direct prompts from a parent (e.g., in the barbershop example).
23 Şubat 2012 Perşembe
Ego-control and ego-resiliency
My quotations from:
Ego-control and ego-resiliency: Generalization
of self-report scales based on personality
descriptions from acquaintances,
clinicians, and the self
2004
Tera D. Letzringa,*, Jack Blockb, David C. Fundera
a Department of Psychology, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521, USA
b University of California, Berkeley, USA
Abstract
Ego-control refers to the inhibition/expression of impulse and ego-resiliency (ER) to the dynamic capacity to contextually modify one_s level of ego-control in response to situational affordances (Block, J., 1950, 2002; Block, J.H., 1951; Block & Block, 1980).
...
1. Introduction
Ego-control (EC) and ego-resiliency (ER) are conceptualized as central personality constructs for understanding motivation, emotion, and behavior (Block, J., 1950, 2002; Block, J.H., 1951; Block & Block, 1980). Broadly conceived and summarily characterized, EC refers to a meta-dimension of impulse inhibition/expression and ER refers to a meta-dimension of the dynamic capacity to contextually modify one’s level of control in response to situational demands and affordances.
Overcontrolled individuals characteristically contain impulse and affect across situations, even when
doing so may not be necessary. On the other hand, undercontrolled individuals characteristically express impulse and affect across situations, even when doing so may be inappropriate. Highly ego-resilient individuals are characteristically able to modify their level of control, either up or down, as may be appropriate or necessary according to the situational context. Individuals with a low level of ego-resiliency are more restricted to the same level of impulse containment or expression regardless of situational demands.
1.1. Ego-control
According to theory developed by Jack and Jeanne Block over several decades, the individual difference dimension of ego-control varies from overcontrol to undercontrol (Block, 2002; Block & Block, 1980). Overcontrolled individuals are conceptualized as relatively inhibited in action and affect-expressiveness to the point of at times being excessively constrained. They have difficulty making decisions, may unnecessarily delay gratification or deny themselves pleasure, are tightly organized,
are insulated from environmental distractions, and are able to continue even repetitive tasks for long periods of time.
At the other extreme, undercontrolled individuals characteristically express affect and impulses relatively immediately and directly even when doing so may be socially or personally inappropriate. They are relatively unable to delay gratification, have fluctuating emotions, and are spontaneous, easily distracted, and relatively unbound by social customs (Block, 2002; Funder & Block, 1989).
The consequences of characteristic overcontrol or undercontrol may be adaptive or maladaptive depending on circumstances. Overcontrol may facilitate disciplined and directed behavior, which can be advantageous in some situations. In other contexts, where delaying gratification and pleasure is unwarranted or psychologically undesirable, overcontrol is likely to be detrimental to personal and often societal fruition.
In parallel, undercontrol can facilitate the expression of warmth, friendliness, and spontaneity, which are likely to be advantageous in promoting intimacy and the enjoyment of life. However, undercontrol can be maladaptive when it leads to erratic, unorganized, or dangerous behavior.
1.2. Ego-resiliency
According to the Blocks_ theorizing, ego-resiliency is the ability to adapt one_s level of control temporarily up or down as circumstances dictate (Block, 2002; Block & Block, 1980). As a result of this adaptive flexibility, individuals with a high level of resiliency are more likely to experience positive affect, and have higher levels of selfconfidence and better psychological adjustment than individuals with a low level of resiliency (Block & Kremen, 1996; Klohnen, 1996). When confronted by stressful circumstances, individuals with a low level of resiliency may act in a stiff and perseverative manner or chaotically and diffusely, and in either case, the resulting behavior is likely to be maladaptive (Block & Kremen, 1996).
Ego-control and ego-resiliency: Generalization
of self-report scales based on personality
descriptions from acquaintances,
clinicians, and the self
2004
Tera D. Letzringa,*, Jack Blockb, David C. Fundera
a Department of Psychology, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521, USA
b University of California, Berkeley, USA
Abstract
Ego-control refers to the inhibition/expression of impulse and ego-resiliency (ER) to the dynamic capacity to contextually modify one_s level of ego-control in response to situational affordances (Block, J., 1950, 2002; Block, J.H., 1951; Block & Block, 1980).
...
1. Introduction
Ego-control (EC) and ego-resiliency (ER) are conceptualized as central personality constructs for understanding motivation, emotion, and behavior (Block, J., 1950, 2002; Block, J.H., 1951; Block & Block, 1980). Broadly conceived and summarily characterized, EC refers to a meta-dimension of impulse inhibition/expression and ER refers to a meta-dimension of the dynamic capacity to contextually modify one’s level of control in response to situational demands and affordances.
Overcontrolled individuals characteristically contain impulse and affect across situations, even when
doing so may not be necessary. On the other hand, undercontrolled individuals characteristically express impulse and affect across situations, even when doing so may be inappropriate. Highly ego-resilient individuals are characteristically able to modify their level of control, either up or down, as may be appropriate or necessary according to the situational context. Individuals with a low level of ego-resiliency are more restricted to the same level of impulse containment or expression regardless of situational demands.
1.1. Ego-control
According to theory developed by Jack and Jeanne Block over several decades, the individual difference dimension of ego-control varies from overcontrol to undercontrol (Block, 2002; Block & Block, 1980). Overcontrolled individuals are conceptualized as relatively inhibited in action and affect-expressiveness to the point of at times being excessively constrained. They have difficulty making decisions, may unnecessarily delay gratification or deny themselves pleasure, are tightly organized,
are insulated from environmental distractions, and are able to continue even repetitive tasks for long periods of time.
At the other extreme, undercontrolled individuals characteristically express affect and impulses relatively immediately and directly even when doing so may be socially or personally inappropriate. They are relatively unable to delay gratification, have fluctuating emotions, and are spontaneous, easily distracted, and relatively unbound by social customs (Block, 2002; Funder & Block, 1989).
The consequences of characteristic overcontrol or undercontrol may be adaptive or maladaptive depending on circumstances. Overcontrol may facilitate disciplined and directed behavior, which can be advantageous in some situations. In other contexts, where delaying gratification and pleasure is unwarranted or psychologically undesirable, overcontrol is likely to be detrimental to personal and often societal fruition.
In parallel, undercontrol can facilitate the expression of warmth, friendliness, and spontaneity, which are likely to be advantageous in promoting intimacy and the enjoyment of life. However, undercontrol can be maladaptive when it leads to erratic, unorganized, or dangerous behavior.
1.2. Ego-resiliency
According to the Blocks_ theorizing, ego-resiliency is the ability to adapt one_s level of control temporarily up or down as circumstances dictate (Block, 2002; Block & Block, 1980). As a result of this adaptive flexibility, individuals with a high level of resiliency are more likely to experience positive affect, and have higher levels of selfconfidence and better psychological adjustment than individuals with a low level of resiliency (Block & Kremen, 1996; Klohnen, 1996). When confronted by stressful circumstances, individuals with a low level of resiliency may act in a stiff and perseverative manner or chaotically and diffusely, and in either case, the resulting behavior is likely to be maladaptive (Block & Kremen, 1996).
3 Şubat 2012 Cuma
How to Regulate Emotions
The crux of this article from the point of daily application is:
“ Emotional processing can also be modulated through deliberate and conscious application of top-down executive control over processing of an emotional stimulus”.
You can find how this is done:
1- One page outline made of quotations from the original article
2- 4 Pages of my notes made of quotations from the original article
3- Original article itself.
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Emotional processing in anterior cingulate and medial prefrontal cortex
Amit Etkin1,2, Tobias Egner3 and Raffael Kalisch4
In summary, the pattern of anatomical connectivity supports an important role for the sgACC, pgACC and adACC in interacting with the limbic system, including its effector regions, and for the adACC and pdACC in communicating with other dorsal and lateral frontal areas that are important for top-down forms of regulation [72].
Fear conditioning and extinction in humans
Thus, the dorsal ACC and mPFC seem to function generally in the appraisal and expression of fear or anxiety.
To elucidate how fear is regulated, we next discuss activations associated with extinction of learned fear. In extinction, the CS is repeatedly presented in the absence of reinforcement, leading to the formation of a CS(conditioned stimulus)–no US(unconditioned stimulus) association (or extinction memory) that competes with the original fear memory for control over behavior [28–30]. Hence, extinction induces conflicting appraisals of, and response tendencies to, the CS because it now signals both threat and safety, a situation that requires regulation, as outlined above.
Emotional conflict regulation
The circuitry we find to be specific for regulation of emotional conflict (ventral ACC and mPFC and amygdala) is very similar to that involved in extinction.
Top-down control of emotion
During emotional conflict regulation, emotional processing is spontaneously modulated in the absence of an explicit instruction to regulate emotion. Emotional processing can also be modulated through deliberate and conscious application of top-down executive control over processing of an
emotional stimulus. The best-studied strategy for the latter type of regulation is reappraisal, a cognitive technique whereby appraisal of a stimulus is modified to change its ability to elicit an emotional reaction [42]. Reappraisal involves both the initial emotional appraisal process and
the reappraisal process proper, whereby an additional positive appraisal is created that competes with the initial negative emotional appraisal.
These data suggest that controlled top-down regulation, like emotional conflict regulation, uses ventral ACC and mPFC areas to inhibit negative emotional processing in the amygdala, thus dampening task interference.
The ventral ACC and mPFC might thus perform a generic negative emotion inhibitory function that can be recruited by other regions (e.g. dorsal ACC and mPFC and lateral PFC) when there is a need to suppress limbic reactivity [10].
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Emotional processing in anterior cingulate and medial prefrontal cortex
Amit Etkin1,2, Tobias Egner3 and Raffael Kalisch4
1 Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
2 Sierra Pacific Mental Illness, Research, Education, and Clinical Center (MIRECC) at the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System, Palo Alto, CA, USA
3 Department of Psychology & Neuroscience and Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
4 Institute for Systems Neuroscience and NeuroImage Nord, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), Hamburg, Germany
Negative emotional stimuli activate a broad network of brain regions, including the medial prefrontal (mPFC) and anterior cingulate (ACC) cortices. An early influential view dichotomized these regions into dorsal–caudal cognitive and ventral–rostral affective subdivisions. In this review, we examine a wealth of recent research on negative emotions in animals and humans, using the example of fear or anxiety, and conclude that, contrary to the traditional dichotomy, both subdivisions make key
contributions to emotional processing. Specifically, dorsal– caudal regions of the ACC and mPFC are involved in appraisal and expression of negative emotion, whereas ventral–rostral portions of the ACC and mPFC have a regulatory role with respect to limbic regions involved in generating emotional responses. Moreover, this new framework is broadly consistent with emerging data on other negative and positive emotions.
...
Glossary
Appraisal: evaluation of the meaning of an internal or external stimulus to the organism. Only stimuli that are appraised as motivationally significant will induce an emotional reaction, and the magnitude, duration and quality of the emotional reaction are a direct result of the appraisal process. Moreover,
appraisal can be automatic and focus on basic affective stimulus dimensions such as novelty, valence or value, or expectation discrepancy, or may be slower and sometimes even require controlled conscious processing, which permits a more sophisticated context-dependent analysis.
Fear conditioning: learning paradigm in which a previously neutral stimulus, termed the conditioned stimulus (CS), is temporally paired with a non-learned aversive stimulus, termed the unconditioned stimulus (US). After pairing, the CS predicts the US and hence elicits a conditioned response (CR). For example, pairing of a tone with a foot shock results in elicitation of fear behavior during
subsequent responses to a non-paired tone.
Extinction: learning process created by repeatedly presenting a CS without pairing with an US (i.e. teaching the animal that the CS no longer predicts the US) after fear conditioning has been established. This results in formation of an extinction memory, which inhibits expression of, but does not erase, the original fear memory.
Reappraisal: specific method for explicit emotion regulation whereby a conscious deliberate effort is engaged to alter the meaning (appraisal) of an emotional stimulus. For example, a picture of a woman crying can be reappraised from a negative meaning to a positive one by favoring an
interpretation that she is crying tears of joy.
Regulation: general process by which conflicting appraisals and response tendencies are arbitrated between to allow selection of a course of action. Typically, regulation is thought to have an element of inhibition and/or enhancement for managing competing appraisals and response tendencies.
...
Box 1. Anatomy of the ACC and mPFC
...
In summary, the pattern of anatomical connectivity supports an important role for the sgACC, pgACC and adACC in interacting with the limbic system, including its effector regions, and for the adACC and pdACC in communicating with other dorsal and lateral frontal areas that are important for top-down forms of regulation [72].
...
Fear conditioning and extinction in humans
The paradigms used in the acquisition and extinction of learned fear are particularly valuable for isolating the neural substrates of fear processing because the anticipatory fear or anxiety triggered by the previously neutral conditioned stimulus (CS) can be dissociated from the reaction to the aversive unconditioned stimulus (US) per se. This is not possible in studies that, for example, use
aversive images to evoke emotional responses. Furthermore, comparison between fear conditioning and fear extinction facilitates an initial coarse distinction between regions associated with either the appraisal of fear-relevant stimuli and generation of fear responses (fear conditioning), for the inhibitory regulation of these processes (extinction).
...
sympathetic nervous system activity correlates positively primarily with dorsal ACC and mPFC regions and negatively primarily with ventral ACC and mPFC regions, which supports a role for the dorsal ACC and mPFC in fear expression (c).
...
These processes are intermixed with, and supported by, learning processes, namely, acquisition, consolidation and storage of a fear memory (CS–US association), and retrieval of the fear memory on subsequent CS presentations.
...
Thus, the dorsal ACC and mPFC seem to function generally in the appraisal and expression of fear or anxiety.
...
To elucidate how fear is regulated, we next discuss activations associated with extinction of learned fear. In extinction, the CS is repeatedly presented in the absence of reinforcement, leading to the formation of a CS–no US association (or extinction memory) that competes with the original fear memory for control over behavior [28–30]. Hence, extinction induces conflicting appraisals of, and response tendencies to, the CS because it now signals both threat and safety, a situation that requires regulation, as outlined above.
...
Emotional conflict regulation
...
The circuitry we find to be specific for regulation of emotional conflict (ventral ACC and mPFC and amygdala) is very similar to that involved in extinction. ... Much like the relationship between improved emotional conflict regulation and decreased conflict evaluation-related activation in the dorsal ACC and mPFC, more successful extinction is associated with decreased CS-driven activation in the dorsal ACC and mPFC of humans and rodents [40,41]. Thus, the most parsimonious explanation for these data is that emotional conflict evaluation-related functions involve overlapping neural mechanisms with appraisal and expression of fear, and that regulation of emotional conflict also involves circuitry that overlaps with fear extinction.
...
Top-down control of emotion
During emotional conflict regulation, emotional processing is spontaneously modulated in the absence of an explicit instruction to regulate emotion. Emotional processing can also be modulated through deliberate and conscious application of top-down executive control over processing of an
emotional stimulus. The best-studied strategy for the latter type of regulation is reappraisal, a cognitive technique whereby appraisal of a stimulus is modified to change its ability to elicit an emotional reaction [42]. Reappraisal involves both the initial emotional appraisal process and
the reappraisal process proper, whereby an additional positive appraisal is created that competes with the initial negative emotional appraisal. Thus, we would expect reappraisal to involve the dorsal ACC and mPFC regions that we observed to be important for emotional conflict detection (Figure 2a). Consistent with this prediction, a meta-analysis found that reappraisal was reliably associated with activation in the dorsal ACC and mPFC (Figure 2b) [43].
This reappraisal meta-analysis, interestingly, did not implicate a consistent role for the ventral ACC and mPFC [43], which suggests that reappraisal does not primarily work by suppressing the processing of an undesired emotional stimulus. Nevertheless, activity in the ventral ACC and mPFC in some instances is negatively correlated with activity in the amygdala in paradigms in which reappraisal resulted in downregulation of amygdalar activity in response to negative pictures [44,45]. ...
These data suggest that controlled top-down regulation, like emotional conflict regulation, uses ventral ACC and mPFC areas to inhibit negative emotional processing in the amygdala, thus dampening task interference. The ventral ACC and mPFC might thus perform a generic negative emotion inhibitory function that can be recruited by other regions (e.g. dorsal ACC and mPFC and lateral PFC) when there is a need to suppress limbic reactivity [10]. This would be a prime example of parsimonious use of a basic emotional circuitry, conserved between rodents and humans (Box 2), for the purpose of higher-level cognitive functions possible only in humans.
...
Amygdala–ACC and –mPFC functional connectivity
...
In addition, during regulation tasks, connectivity was restricted to the ventral ACC and mPFC and was primarily negative (Figure 2d). These data thus lend further support to our proposal of a dorso–ventral separation in terms of negative emotion generation (appraisal and expression) and inhibition (regulation).
...
Integration with other perspectives on ACC and mPFC function and other emotions
Although less developed than the literature on fear and anxiety, studies on other emotions are broadly consistent with our formulation of ACC and mPFC function. On the negative emotion appraisal and expression side, direct experience of pain, or empathy for others experiencing
pain, activates the dorsal ACC and mPFC [49], and lesions of the dACC also serve as treatment for chronic pain [50]. Similarly, increased sensitivity to a range of negative emotions is associated with greater engagement of the dorsal ACC and mPFC, including disgust [51] and rejection [52], and transcranial-magnetic-stimulation-induced disruption of the dmPFC interferes with anger processing [53]. Uncertainty or ambiguity, which can induce anxiety and relates to emotional conflict, leads to activation in the dACC and dmPFC [54].
...
Positive emotion, which can serve to regulate and diminish negative emotion, has been associated in a metaanalysis with activation in the sgACC, vmPFC and pgACC [58]. Extinction of appetitive learning activates the vmPFC [59], much as extinction of learned fear does. The evaluation of positive stimuli and reward is more complicated. For instance, Rushworth and co-workers proposed that the processes carried out by the adACC are mirrored by similar contributions to reinforcement-guided decision-making from the orbitofrontal cortex, with the distinction that the adACC is concerned with computing reinforcement value of actions whereas the orbitofrontal cortex is concerned with gauging the reinforcement values of stimuli [60].
Taken together, these data broadly support our dorsal–ventral distinction along appraisal–expression versus regulation lines, with respect specifically to negative emotion.
...
“ Emotional processing can also be modulated through deliberate and conscious application of top-down executive control over processing of an emotional stimulus”.
You can find how this is done:
1- One page outline made of quotations from the original article
2- 4 Pages of my notes made of quotations from the original article
3- Original article itself.
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Emotional processing in anterior cingulate and medial prefrontal cortex
Amit Etkin1,2, Tobias Egner3 and Raffael Kalisch4
In summary, the pattern of anatomical connectivity supports an important role for the sgACC, pgACC and adACC in interacting with the limbic system, including its effector regions, and for the adACC and pdACC in communicating with other dorsal and lateral frontal areas that are important for top-down forms of regulation [72].
Fear conditioning and extinction in humans
Thus, the dorsal ACC and mPFC seem to function generally in the appraisal and expression of fear or anxiety.
To elucidate how fear is regulated, we next discuss activations associated with extinction of learned fear. In extinction, the CS is repeatedly presented in the absence of reinforcement, leading to the formation of a CS(conditioned stimulus)–no US(unconditioned stimulus) association (or extinction memory) that competes with the original fear memory for control over behavior [28–30]. Hence, extinction induces conflicting appraisals of, and response tendencies to, the CS because it now signals both threat and safety, a situation that requires regulation, as outlined above.
Emotional conflict regulation
The circuitry we find to be specific for regulation of emotional conflict (ventral ACC and mPFC and amygdala) is very similar to that involved in extinction.
Top-down control of emotion
During emotional conflict regulation, emotional processing is spontaneously modulated in the absence of an explicit instruction to regulate emotion. Emotional processing can also be modulated through deliberate and conscious application of top-down executive control over processing of an
emotional stimulus. The best-studied strategy for the latter type of regulation is reappraisal, a cognitive technique whereby appraisal of a stimulus is modified to change its ability to elicit an emotional reaction [42]. Reappraisal involves both the initial emotional appraisal process and
the reappraisal process proper, whereby an additional positive appraisal is created that competes with the initial negative emotional appraisal.
These data suggest that controlled top-down regulation, like emotional conflict regulation, uses ventral ACC and mPFC areas to inhibit negative emotional processing in the amygdala, thus dampening task interference.
The ventral ACC and mPFC might thus perform a generic negative emotion inhibitory function that can be recruited by other regions (e.g. dorsal ACC and mPFC and lateral PFC) when there is a need to suppress limbic reactivity [10].
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Emotional processing in anterior cingulate and medial prefrontal cortex
Amit Etkin1,2, Tobias Egner3 and Raffael Kalisch4
1 Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
2 Sierra Pacific Mental Illness, Research, Education, and Clinical Center (MIRECC) at the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System, Palo Alto, CA, USA
3 Department of Psychology & Neuroscience and Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
4 Institute for Systems Neuroscience and NeuroImage Nord, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), Hamburg, Germany
Negative emotional stimuli activate a broad network of brain regions, including the medial prefrontal (mPFC) and anterior cingulate (ACC) cortices. An early influential view dichotomized these regions into dorsal–caudal cognitive and ventral–rostral affective subdivisions. In this review, we examine a wealth of recent research on negative emotions in animals and humans, using the example of fear or anxiety, and conclude that, contrary to the traditional dichotomy, both subdivisions make key
contributions to emotional processing. Specifically, dorsal– caudal regions of the ACC and mPFC are involved in appraisal and expression of negative emotion, whereas ventral–rostral portions of the ACC and mPFC have a regulatory role with respect to limbic regions involved in generating emotional responses. Moreover, this new framework is broadly consistent with emerging data on other negative and positive emotions.
...
Glossary
Appraisal: evaluation of the meaning of an internal or external stimulus to the organism. Only stimuli that are appraised as motivationally significant will induce an emotional reaction, and the magnitude, duration and quality of the emotional reaction are a direct result of the appraisal process. Moreover,
appraisal can be automatic and focus on basic affective stimulus dimensions such as novelty, valence or value, or expectation discrepancy, or may be slower and sometimes even require controlled conscious processing, which permits a more sophisticated context-dependent analysis.
Fear conditioning: learning paradigm in which a previously neutral stimulus, termed the conditioned stimulus (CS), is temporally paired with a non-learned aversive stimulus, termed the unconditioned stimulus (US). After pairing, the CS predicts the US and hence elicits a conditioned response (CR). For example, pairing of a tone with a foot shock results in elicitation of fear behavior during
subsequent responses to a non-paired tone.
Extinction: learning process created by repeatedly presenting a CS without pairing with an US (i.e. teaching the animal that the CS no longer predicts the US) after fear conditioning has been established. This results in formation of an extinction memory, which inhibits expression of, but does not erase, the original fear memory.
Reappraisal: specific method for explicit emotion regulation whereby a conscious deliberate effort is engaged to alter the meaning (appraisal) of an emotional stimulus. For example, a picture of a woman crying can be reappraised from a negative meaning to a positive one by favoring an
interpretation that she is crying tears of joy.
Regulation: general process by which conflicting appraisals and response tendencies are arbitrated between to allow selection of a course of action. Typically, regulation is thought to have an element of inhibition and/or enhancement for managing competing appraisals and response tendencies.
...
Box 1. Anatomy of the ACC and mPFC
...
In summary, the pattern of anatomical connectivity supports an important role for the sgACC, pgACC and adACC in interacting with the limbic system, including its effector regions, and for the adACC and pdACC in communicating with other dorsal and lateral frontal areas that are important for top-down forms of regulation [72].
...
Fear conditioning and extinction in humans
The paradigms used in the acquisition and extinction of learned fear are particularly valuable for isolating the neural substrates of fear processing because the anticipatory fear or anxiety triggered by the previously neutral conditioned stimulus (CS) can be dissociated from the reaction to the aversive unconditioned stimulus (US) per se. This is not possible in studies that, for example, use
aversive images to evoke emotional responses. Furthermore, comparison between fear conditioning and fear extinction facilitates an initial coarse distinction between regions associated with either the appraisal of fear-relevant stimuli and generation of fear responses (fear conditioning), for the inhibitory regulation of these processes (extinction).
...
sympathetic nervous system activity correlates positively primarily with dorsal ACC and mPFC regions and negatively primarily with ventral ACC and mPFC regions, which supports a role for the dorsal ACC and mPFC in fear expression (c).
...
These processes are intermixed with, and supported by, learning processes, namely, acquisition, consolidation and storage of a fear memory (CS–US association), and retrieval of the fear memory on subsequent CS presentations.
...
Thus, the dorsal ACC and mPFC seem to function generally in the appraisal and expression of fear or anxiety.
...
To elucidate how fear is regulated, we next discuss activations associated with extinction of learned fear. In extinction, the CS is repeatedly presented in the absence of reinforcement, leading to the formation of a CS–no US association (or extinction memory) that competes with the original fear memory for control over behavior [28–30]. Hence, extinction induces conflicting appraisals of, and response tendencies to, the CS because it now signals both threat and safety, a situation that requires regulation, as outlined above.
...
Emotional conflict regulation
...
The circuitry we find to be specific for regulation of emotional conflict (ventral ACC and mPFC and amygdala) is very similar to that involved in extinction. ... Much like the relationship between improved emotional conflict regulation and decreased conflict evaluation-related activation in the dorsal ACC and mPFC, more successful extinction is associated with decreased CS-driven activation in the dorsal ACC and mPFC of humans and rodents [40,41]. Thus, the most parsimonious explanation for these data is that emotional conflict evaluation-related functions involve overlapping neural mechanisms with appraisal and expression of fear, and that regulation of emotional conflict also involves circuitry that overlaps with fear extinction.
...
Top-down control of emotion
During emotional conflict regulation, emotional processing is spontaneously modulated in the absence of an explicit instruction to regulate emotion. Emotional processing can also be modulated through deliberate and conscious application of top-down executive control over processing of an
emotional stimulus. The best-studied strategy for the latter type of regulation is reappraisal, a cognitive technique whereby appraisal of a stimulus is modified to change its ability to elicit an emotional reaction [42]. Reappraisal involves both the initial emotional appraisal process and
the reappraisal process proper, whereby an additional positive appraisal is created that competes with the initial negative emotional appraisal. Thus, we would expect reappraisal to involve the dorsal ACC and mPFC regions that we observed to be important for emotional conflict detection (Figure 2a). Consistent with this prediction, a meta-analysis found that reappraisal was reliably associated with activation in the dorsal ACC and mPFC (Figure 2b) [43].
This reappraisal meta-analysis, interestingly, did not implicate a consistent role for the ventral ACC and mPFC [43], which suggests that reappraisal does not primarily work by suppressing the processing of an undesired emotional stimulus. Nevertheless, activity in the ventral ACC and mPFC in some instances is negatively correlated with activity in the amygdala in paradigms in which reappraisal resulted in downregulation of amygdalar activity in response to negative pictures [44,45]. ...
These data suggest that controlled top-down regulation, like emotional conflict regulation, uses ventral ACC and mPFC areas to inhibit negative emotional processing in the amygdala, thus dampening task interference. The ventral ACC and mPFC might thus perform a generic negative emotion inhibitory function that can be recruited by other regions (e.g. dorsal ACC and mPFC and lateral PFC) when there is a need to suppress limbic reactivity [10]. This would be a prime example of parsimonious use of a basic emotional circuitry, conserved between rodents and humans (Box 2), for the purpose of higher-level cognitive functions possible only in humans.
...
Amygdala–ACC and –mPFC functional connectivity
...
In addition, during regulation tasks, connectivity was restricted to the ventral ACC and mPFC and was primarily negative (Figure 2d). These data thus lend further support to our proposal of a dorso–ventral separation in terms of negative emotion generation (appraisal and expression) and inhibition (regulation).
...
Integration with other perspectives on ACC and mPFC function and other emotions
Although less developed than the literature on fear and anxiety, studies on other emotions are broadly consistent with our formulation of ACC and mPFC function. On the negative emotion appraisal and expression side, direct experience of pain, or empathy for others experiencing
pain, activates the dorsal ACC and mPFC [49], and lesions of the dACC also serve as treatment for chronic pain [50]. Similarly, increased sensitivity to a range of negative emotions is associated with greater engagement of the dorsal ACC and mPFC, including disgust [51] and rejection [52], and transcranial-magnetic-stimulation-induced disruption of the dmPFC interferes with anger processing [53]. Uncertainty or ambiguity, which can induce anxiety and relates to emotional conflict, leads to activation in the dACC and dmPFC [54].
...
Positive emotion, which can serve to regulate and diminish negative emotion, has been associated in a metaanalysis with activation in the sgACC, vmPFC and pgACC [58]. Extinction of appetitive learning activates the vmPFC [59], much as extinction of learned fear does. The evaluation of positive stimuli and reward is more complicated. For instance, Rushworth and co-workers proposed that the processes carried out by the adACC are mirrored by similar contributions to reinforcement-guided decision-making from the orbitofrontal cortex, with the distinction that the adACC is concerned with computing reinforcement value of actions whereas the orbitofrontal cortex is concerned with gauging the reinforcement values of stimuli [60].
Taken together, these data broadly support our dorsal–ventral distinction along appraisal–expression versus regulation lines, with respect specifically to negative emotion.
...
21 Ocak 2012 Cumartesi
understanding the interaction between cognition and emotion
Short Notes from:
Cognitive and emotional influences in anterior cingulate cortex
George Bush, Phan Luu and Michael I. Posner
Anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is a part of the brain’s limbic system. Classically, this region has been related to affect, on the basis of lesion studies in humans and in animals.
...
ACC might be the brain’s error detection and correction device.
...
ACC is a part of a circuit involved in a form of attention that serves to regulate both cognitive and emotional processing. Neuroimaging studies showing that separate areas of ACC are involved in cognition and emotion.
...
(1) Cingulate cortex includes specific processing modules for sensory, motor, cognitive and emotional information.
(2) As a whole, cingulate cortex integrates input from various sources (including motivation, evaluation of error, and representations from cognitive and emotional networks).
(3) Cingulate cortex acts by influencing activity in other brain regions and modulating cognitive, motor, endocrine and visceral responses.
...
cingulate cortex encompasses numerous specialized subdivisions that subserve a vast array of cognitive, emotional, motor, nociceptive and visuospatial functions.
...
Its two major subdivisions subserve distinct functions. These include a dorsal cognitive division (ACcd; areas 24b9-c9 and 329) and a rostral–ventral affective division (ACad; rostral areas 24a–c and 32, and ventral areas 25 and 33).
...
The cognitive subdivision is part of a distributed attentional network. It maintains strong reciprocal interconnections with lateral prefrontal cortex (BA 46/9), parietal cortex (BA 7), and premotor and supplementary motor areas6. Various functions have been ascribed to the ACcd, including modulation of attention or executive functions by influencing sensory or response selection (or both); monitoring competition, complex motor control, motivation, novelty, error detection and working memory; and anticipation of cognitively demanding tasks (see Refs 1,3,5,6,14–17 for reviews).
The affective subdivision, by contrast, is connected to the amygdala, periaqueductal gray, nucleus accumbens, hypothalamus, anterior insula, hippocampus and orbitofrontal cortex6, and has outflow to autonomic, visceromotor and endocrine systems. The ACad is primarily involved in assessing the salience of emotional and motivational information and the regulation of emotional responses5,6,15,18.
...
The cognitive division (ACcd) has been activated (Fig. 2a) by cognitively demanding tasks that involve stimulus– response selection in the face of competing streams of information, including Color Stroop and Stroop-like tasks, divided- attention tasks, verbal- and motor-response selection tasks and many working-memory tasks. The affective division (ACad) has been activated (Fig. 2a) by affect-related tasks, including studies of emotional processing in normal healthy volunteers and symptom provocation studies in a number of psychiatric disorders (anxiety, simple phobia and obsessive–compulsive disorder). It has also been activated repeatedly by induced sadness in normal subjects
and in individuals with major depression.
...
Combining functional imaging, anatomical and behavioral methods will be important for understanding the interaction between cognition and emotion.
...
These studies suggest that both dorsal ACC and areas of the lateral prefrontal cortex operate together during tasks that involve high levels of mental effort.
...
According to this hypothesis, the cognitive division of the ACC serves to monitor crosstalk or conflict
between brain areas, and this computation signals the need for control processes. Lateral areas of the cortex are then activated to provide control operations, which might include increasing or inhibiting neural activity within distinct brain areas so as to eliminate the confusion between modules.
Cognitive and emotional influences in anterior cingulate cortex
George Bush, Phan Luu and Michael I. Posner
Anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is a part of the brain’s limbic system. Classically, this region has been related to affect, on the basis of lesion studies in humans and in animals.
...
ACC might be the brain’s error detection and correction device.
...
ACC is a part of a circuit involved in a form of attention that serves to regulate both cognitive and emotional processing. Neuroimaging studies showing that separate areas of ACC are involved in cognition and emotion.
...
(1) Cingulate cortex includes specific processing modules for sensory, motor, cognitive and emotional information.
(2) As a whole, cingulate cortex integrates input from various sources (including motivation, evaluation of error, and representations from cognitive and emotional networks).
(3) Cingulate cortex acts by influencing activity in other brain regions and modulating cognitive, motor, endocrine and visceral responses.
...
cingulate cortex encompasses numerous specialized subdivisions that subserve a vast array of cognitive, emotional, motor, nociceptive and visuospatial functions.
...
Its two major subdivisions subserve distinct functions. These include a dorsal cognitive division (ACcd; areas 24b9-c9 and 329) and a rostral–ventral affective division (ACad; rostral areas 24a–c and 32, and ventral areas 25 and 33).
...
The cognitive subdivision is part of a distributed attentional network. It maintains strong reciprocal interconnections with lateral prefrontal cortex (BA 46/9), parietal cortex (BA 7), and premotor and supplementary motor areas6. Various functions have been ascribed to the ACcd, including modulation of attention or executive functions by influencing sensory or response selection (or both); monitoring competition, complex motor control, motivation, novelty, error detection and working memory; and anticipation of cognitively demanding tasks (see Refs 1,3,5,6,14–17 for reviews).
The affective subdivision, by contrast, is connected to the amygdala, periaqueductal gray, nucleus accumbens, hypothalamus, anterior insula, hippocampus and orbitofrontal cortex6, and has outflow to autonomic, visceromotor and endocrine systems. The ACad is primarily involved in assessing the salience of emotional and motivational information and the regulation of emotional responses5,6,15,18.
...
The cognitive division (ACcd) has been activated (Fig. 2a) by cognitively demanding tasks that involve stimulus– response selection in the face of competing streams of information, including Color Stroop and Stroop-like tasks, divided- attention tasks, verbal- and motor-response selection tasks and many working-memory tasks. The affective division (ACad) has been activated (Fig. 2a) by affect-related tasks, including studies of emotional processing in normal healthy volunteers and symptom provocation studies in a number of psychiatric disorders (anxiety, simple phobia and obsessive–compulsive disorder). It has also been activated repeatedly by induced sadness in normal subjects
and in individuals with major depression.
...
Combining functional imaging, anatomical and behavioral methods will be important for understanding the interaction between cognition and emotion.
...
These studies suggest that both dorsal ACC and areas of the lateral prefrontal cortex operate together during tasks that involve high levels of mental effort.
...
According to this hypothesis, the cognitive division of the ACC serves to monitor crosstalk or conflict
between brain areas, and this computation signals the need for control processes. Lateral areas of the cortex are then activated to provide control operations, which might include increasing or inhibiting neural activity within distinct brain areas so as to eliminate the confusion between modules.
2 Ocak 2012 Pazartesi
Short Notes from Conflict and Cogntive Control in the Brain
Short Notes for Interested People from
Conflict and Cogntive Control in the brain
Vincent van Veen1 and Cameron S. Carter2
1Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, and 2Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry, University of California, Davis
ABSTRACT—Recent research from cognitive psychology and cognitive neuroscience has suggested that the control mechanisms by which people are able to regulate task performance can be dissociated into evaluative and executive components. One process, implemented in the anterior cingulate cortex of the brain, monitors the amount of conflict that occurs during information processing; another process, implemented in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, is involved with maintaining the requirements of the task at hand and with biasing information processing in favor of appropriate responses.
...
Whenever one performs a task, one has to make sure that one selects the relevant information (stimuli, actions) and not get distracted by stimuli or thoughts that are irrelevant to the task. Such distraction might lead to inappropriate actions, such as errors. How the brain manages to do this is the central question in this paper: specifically, how people manage to pay more attention after they have either made an error or almost made an error.
One of the key aspects of cognitive control is how flexible it is. The issue of how people monitor and correct for errors has become a popular topic of inquiry in cognitive research;
...
ATTENTIONAL CONTROL AND THE PREFRONTAL CORTEX
Many phenomena from cognitive and social psychology are thought to depend on automatic processes. Processes can be automatic when they are innate or highly practiced, because they are part of a strongly activated schema, or because they are imposed by a powerful social context or a strong motivational or emotional state, among other reasons.
Of all the stimuli that one encounters, only a limited set is relevant to what one is trying to accomplish; nevertheless, both relevant and irrelevant stimuli compete for access to the response system. Such competition can be difficult to overcome when the processing of irrelevant information is relatively automatic. When the irrelevant information is associated with a response, reliance on automatic processing might facilitate the task if this response is desirable. However, when the irrelevant, automatically processed information is associated with an inappropriate response, the resulting conflict between appropriate and inappropriate responses might be difficult to overcome.
...
This is thought to occur because word reading is relatively more automatic than color naming; therefore the word is hard to ignore, and it activates the associated response. During incongruent trials, the responses associated with the color compete with those associated with the word. When conflicts occur, attentional control is needed to overcome the conflict by selecting the relevant information and suppressing the processing of irrelevant information. Control is often conceptualized as the ability to represent and maintain the task requirements, to support the processing of information relevant to the goals of the current task, and to suppress irrelevant information. Many neuropsychological and neuroimaging studies have shown that an important brain structure that supports this ability is the prefrontal cortex (PFC ).
...
The PFC is also involved in the control of other forms of higher-order cognition. For instance, many neurophysiological and neuroimaging studies have shown that this region is able to maintain task-relevant information for brief periods of time, which has supported the notion that this region constitutes a neural basis for working memory. Also, the PFC is involved in task preparation and switching between different tasks. Therefore, it is thought to be involved in many aspects of the executive control over our thoughts and actions.
...
PERFORMANCE MONITORING
The notion that control regulates other types of information processing begs the question, how is control itself regulated? Without a clear answer to this question, the notion of attentional control becomes homuncular, posing the same questions as it is supposed to answer. Therefore, an answer to this question is fundamental to understanding the flexible nature of attentional control.
We and other researchers have argued that the amount of conflict occurring in the information-processing system plays a central role in regulating how much control is exerted and when control is withdrawn. The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) of the brain, located on the medial surface of the frontal lobe, has (possibly among other functions) the role of detecting situations in which there are conflicts within the information-processing stream and which therefore require attention to be resolved
...
This activation of the incorrect response is followed by activation of the correct response. If the initial incorrect activation does not manage to reach response threshold and the correct response manages to override the incorrect response, the response to the trial ends up being correct. Errors in speeded-response tasks are typically fast, impulsive responses based on incomplete stimulus evaluation. The timing of response activation during error trials does not differ much from that during correct trials, the main exception being that during error trials the initial activation of the incorrect response does reach response threshold. The subsequent activation of the correct response is manifested as the tendency to ‘‘correct’’ the error
...
FUTURE DIRECTIONS
Many studies, including subliminal-priming studies, have suggested that conflict can occur in the absence of awareness; however, studies have not been conclusive as to whether this conflict also engages the ACC or whether such conflict is associated with a subsequent increase in attention.
...
Similarly, these areas have also been suggested to play a role in cognitive dissonance; Harmon-Jones (2004) has hypothesized that the ACC detects conflicts (dissonance) between actions and attitudes and alerts the PFC to reduce this dissonance.
Conflict and Cogntive Control in the brain
Vincent van Veen1 and Cameron S. Carter2
1Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, and 2Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry, University of California, Davis
ABSTRACT—Recent research from cognitive psychology and cognitive neuroscience has suggested that the control mechanisms by which people are able to regulate task performance can be dissociated into evaluative and executive components. One process, implemented in the anterior cingulate cortex of the brain, monitors the amount of conflict that occurs during information processing; another process, implemented in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, is involved with maintaining the requirements of the task at hand and with biasing information processing in favor of appropriate responses.
...
Whenever one performs a task, one has to make sure that one selects the relevant information (stimuli, actions) and not get distracted by stimuli or thoughts that are irrelevant to the task. Such distraction might lead to inappropriate actions, such as errors. How the brain manages to do this is the central question in this paper: specifically, how people manage to pay more attention after they have either made an error or almost made an error.
One of the key aspects of cognitive control is how flexible it is. The issue of how people monitor and correct for errors has become a popular topic of inquiry in cognitive research;
...
ATTENTIONAL CONTROL AND THE PREFRONTAL CORTEX
Many phenomena from cognitive and social psychology are thought to depend on automatic processes. Processes can be automatic when they are innate or highly practiced, because they are part of a strongly activated schema, or because they are imposed by a powerful social context or a strong motivational or emotional state, among other reasons.
Of all the stimuli that one encounters, only a limited set is relevant to what one is trying to accomplish; nevertheless, both relevant and irrelevant stimuli compete for access to the response system. Such competition can be difficult to overcome when the processing of irrelevant information is relatively automatic. When the irrelevant information is associated with a response, reliance on automatic processing might facilitate the task if this response is desirable. However, when the irrelevant, automatically processed information is associated with an inappropriate response, the resulting conflict between appropriate and inappropriate responses might be difficult to overcome.
...
This is thought to occur because word reading is relatively more automatic than color naming; therefore the word is hard to ignore, and it activates the associated response. During incongruent trials, the responses associated with the color compete with those associated with the word. When conflicts occur, attentional control is needed to overcome the conflict by selecting the relevant information and suppressing the processing of irrelevant information. Control is often conceptualized as the ability to represent and maintain the task requirements, to support the processing of information relevant to the goals of the current task, and to suppress irrelevant information. Many neuropsychological and neuroimaging studies have shown that an important brain structure that supports this ability is the prefrontal cortex (PFC ).
...
The PFC is also involved in the control of other forms of higher-order cognition. For instance, many neurophysiological and neuroimaging studies have shown that this region is able to maintain task-relevant information for brief periods of time, which has supported the notion that this region constitutes a neural basis for working memory. Also, the PFC is involved in task preparation and switching between different tasks. Therefore, it is thought to be involved in many aspects of the executive control over our thoughts and actions.
...
PERFORMANCE MONITORING
The notion that control regulates other types of information processing begs the question, how is control itself regulated? Without a clear answer to this question, the notion of attentional control becomes homuncular, posing the same questions as it is supposed to answer. Therefore, an answer to this question is fundamental to understanding the flexible nature of attentional control.
We and other researchers have argued that the amount of conflict occurring in the information-processing system plays a central role in regulating how much control is exerted and when control is withdrawn. The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) of the brain, located on the medial surface of the frontal lobe, has (possibly among other functions) the role of detecting situations in which there are conflicts within the information-processing stream and which therefore require attention to be resolved
...
This activation of the incorrect response is followed by activation of the correct response. If the initial incorrect activation does not manage to reach response threshold and the correct response manages to override the incorrect response, the response to the trial ends up being correct. Errors in speeded-response tasks are typically fast, impulsive responses based on incomplete stimulus evaluation. The timing of response activation during error trials does not differ much from that during correct trials, the main exception being that during error trials the initial activation of the incorrect response does reach response threshold. The subsequent activation of the correct response is manifested as the tendency to ‘‘correct’’ the error
...
FUTURE DIRECTIONS
Many studies, including subliminal-priming studies, have suggested that conflict can occur in the absence of awareness; however, studies have not been conclusive as to whether this conflict also engages the ACC or whether such conflict is associated with a subsequent increase in attention.
...
Similarly, these areas have also been suggested to play a role in cognitive dissonance; Harmon-Jones (2004) has hypothesized that the ACC detects conflicts (dissonance) between actions and attitudes and alerts the PFC to reduce this dissonance.
13 Aralık 2011 Salı
The Singularity of Mind
“Mein Sohn! Tue das, was in (deinem) Herzen (ist)”
“My son! Do what in your heart is.”
Cognition exists as the processes of division or unision. The difficulty of the unknown is divided to its parts and a solution turns out to knowledge when united with the existing solutions.
Mind exists abstractly as a complex system of functional abilities of the brain. When the brain is faced with a difficulty it divides itself to different compartments. Infact, in the beginning of self, when a two year old child is faced with the difficulty of speaking, he/she chooses inevitably to identify self. Speaking forces the use of ‘I’ hence dividing the world as others and ‘self’. Camın Ötesine Geçmek(http://alirizasaral.blogspot.com/2008/12/camin-tesine-gemek.html)
The child mind’s skill of dividing self to face difficulties continues in the rest of the life. We develop many subpersonalities to handle the difficulties of various contexts that we live in our daily life, father/mother, family relations, job relations, neighbors, friend circles, professional expertises etc.
Through all the divisions that mind undergoes, one thing remains constant, self-consciousness. Individual percieves self as a single person that he knows as. Sometimes we feel ashamed or we can not associate what we do with what we feel ourselves as but still the reference to the self remains constant. OR sometimes we do things that we accept we do not expect to achive by ourselves.
One reason that causes the sense of constant self-perception is the basic education and the cultural tendency of the society at that period of time. I believe, the Turkish society is still living a predominantly romantic period and this is effecting the child rear up and the self-perception of the grownups.
Singularity of the human-mind is a wrong perception taught by the society, child bring up, basic education, religion and so on. Infact, research in the last 20 years have physically proved that, for various functions of mind, different sections of brain gets activated.
The below quotation is taken from the sum up section of:
PREFRONTAL AND ANTERIOR CINGULATE CONTRIBUTIONS TO VOLITION IN DEPRESSION
Jack B. Nitschke and Kristen L. Mackiewicz
Waisman Laboratory for Brain Imaging and Behavior
Departments of Psychiatry and Psychology, University of Wisconsin
It explains how the human volition is implemented by the brain. Two specific and distinct regions interact to achieve the volition function.
“In this chapter, we have outlined two constituent components in the neural circuitry of volition: the DLPFC and the ACC. These structures have distinct roles that contribute to the selection and implementation of action plans.”
DLPFC and ACC’s functions:
“Subserving cognitive control, the DLPFC is involved in the representation and selection of goals and in the implementation of action plans and behavioral change.”
“The ACC has been implicated in monitoring conflict among external and internal cues, with the dorsal ACC modulating cognitive aspects and the ventral ACC more involved in affect.”
Interaction between ACC and DLPFC:
“It plays a central role in signaling and recruiting additional brain regions, particularly the DLPFC, to resolve the conflict and initiate the appropriate action. “
Collective function of both:
“Working in concert, these two key regions form the cornerstones of the neural signature of volition, especially with regard to the implementation of volitional action plans. “
“The cascade of events that occurs allows for the eventual selection of new goal‐directed behaviors that override previously established behavior patterns.”
Our brain is formed of many centers and works like a dynamic complex multiprocessor system. But human mind percieves self as a single unity. Infact, there are some cultural hints that point out to some possibilities of making use of the multiplicity of the brain.
Daisuke YOSHIDA’s book “Die Syntax des althethitischen substantivischen Genitivs” page 5 alludes to
An Anatolian Hittite King’s thousands of years old advise:
“Mein Sohn! Tue das, was in (deinem) Herzen (ist)”
My son! Do what in your heart is.
The seperation of decision processing between two seperate centers, brain and heart clearly resembles the DLPFC and ACC processing...
If throughly studied one can find similar cultural elements in relation to the thinking-processing speed. The brain uses different types of processing for different tasks. For example, things related to safety requires a “clear and unhesitating, calm mind”. This may be related to not only the character of the situation processed but also the specific processing center(s) being used for that task.
An notorious other multiplicity is the emotions and cognition split. When carefully studied one can easily find the strong affects of romantism in the Turkish culture in this area. The tendency to bring up children with a singular mind is reflected in the feel-think duality and the importance of feelings etc...
I believe, in a century with increasing complexity of systems that we use, we are faced with the necessity of changing our education and child bring up systems. We should stop bringing up people who concentrate uncontrollably when faced with emergencies or difficulties. We should stop creating human triggers who can not change what they do once they are trigged. We should train flexible people who can react to big emergencies but return to normal function afterwards in a short while.
We should bring up controllers who can control may be 2-3 times more air traffic using more complex and sophisticated systems.
This is a task much further than that can be achieved with current computer games or action movies.
We are faced with an immense task of changing our education and child bring up system in order to create the modern individual who can percieve his own depths of multiplicity and use the hidden advantages against the terrible risks.
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