Dataset Information

Posterior cingulate cortex: adapting behavior to a changing world.

ABSTRACT: When has the world changed enough to warrant a new approach? The answer depends on current needs, behavioral flexibility and prior knowledge about the environment. Formal approaches solve the problem by integrating the recent history of rewards, errors, uncertainty and context via Bayesian inference to detect changes in the world and alter behavioral policy. Neuronal activity in posterior cingulate cortex - a key node in the default network - is known to vary with learning, memory, reward and task engagement. We propose that these modulations reflect the underlying process of change detection and motivate subsequent shifts in behavior.

SUBMITTER: Pearson JM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3070780 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Posterior cingulate cortex: adapting behavior to a changing world.

Pearson John M JM Heilbronner Sarah R SR Barack David L DL Hayden Benjamin Y BY Platt Michael L ML

Trends in cognitive sciences 20110321 4

When has the world changed enough to warrant a new approach? The answer depends on current needs, behavioral flexibility and prior knowledge about the environment. Formal approaches solve the problem by integrating the recent history of rewards, errors, uncertainty and context via Bayesian inference to detect changes in the world and alter behavioral policy. Neuronal activity in posterior cingulate cortex - a key node in the default network - is known to vary with learning, memory, reward and ta ...[more]

PMID: 21420893

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Project description:Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the accumulation of toxic misfolded proteins, which are believed to have propagated from disease-specific epicenters through their corresponding large-scale structural networks in the brain. Although previous cross-sectional studies have identified potential AD-associated epicenters and corresponding brain networks, it is unclear whether these networks are associated with disease progression. Hence, this study aims to identify the most vulnerable epicenters and corresponding large-scale structural networks involved in the early stages of AD and to evaluate its associations with multiple cognitive domains using longitudinal study design. Annual neuropsychological and MRI assessments were obtained from 23 patients with AD, 37 patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and 33 healthy controls (HC) for 3 years. Candidate epicenters were identified as regions with faster decline rate in the gray matter volume (GMV) in patients with MCI who progressed to AD as compared to those regions in patients without progression. These epicenters were then further used as pre-defined regions of interest to map the synchronized degeneration network (SDN) in HCs. Spatial similarity, network preference and clinical association analyses were used to evaluate the specific roles of the identified SDNs. Our results demonstrated that the hippocampus and posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) were the most vulnerable AD-associated epicenters. The corresponding PCC-SDN showed significant spatial association with the patterns of GMV atrophy rate in each patient group and the overlap of these patterns was more evident in the advanced stages of the disease. Furthermore, individuals with a higher GMV atrophy rate of the PCC-SDN also showed faster decline in multiple cognitive domains. In conclusion, our findings suggest the PCC and hippocampus are two vulnerable regions involved early in AD pathophysiology. However, the PCC-SDN, but not hippocampus-SDN, was more closely associated with AD progression. These results may provide insight into the pathophysiology of AD from large-scale network perspective.

Project description:OBJECTIVE:Pain catastrophizing is a common feature of chronic pain, including fibromyalgia (FM), and is strongly associated with amplified pain severity and disability. While previous neuroimaging studies have focused on evoked pain response modulation by catastrophizing, the brain mechanisms supporting pain catastrophizing itself are unknown. We designed a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)-based pain catastrophizing task whereby patients with chronic pain engaged in catastrophizing-related cognitions. We undertook this study to test our hypothesis that catastrophizing about clinical pain would be associated with amplified activation in nodes of the default mode network (DMN), which encode self-referential cognition and show altered functioning in chronic pain. METHODS:During fMRI, 31 FM patients reflected on how catastrophizing (CAT) statements (drawn from the Pain Catastrophizing Scale) impact their typical FM pain experience. Response to CAT statements was compared to response to matched neutral (NEU) statements. RESULTS:During statement reflection, higher fMRI signal during CAT statements than during NEU statements was found in several DMN brain areas, including the ventral (posterior) and dorsal (anterior) posterior cingulate cortex (vPCC and dPCC, respectively). Patients' ratings of CAT statement applicability were correlated solely with activity in the vPCC, a main DMN hub supporting self-referential cognition (r = 0.38, P < 0.05). Clinical pain severity was correlated solely with activity in the dPCC, a PCC subregion associated with cognitive control and sensorimotor processing (r = 0.38, P < 0.05). CONCLUSION:These findings provide evidence that the PCC encodes pain catastrophizing in FM and suggest distinct roles for different PCC subregions. Understanding the brain circuitry encoding pain catastrophizing in FM will prove to be important in identifying and evaluating the success of interventions targeting negative affect in chronic pain management.

Dataset Information

Posterior cingulate cortex: adapting behavior to a changing world.

Publications

Posterior cingulate cortex: adapting behavior to a changing world.

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