Our brains help us to adapt quickly to variable and unpredictable circumstances. However, the neural processes that allow for this flexibility remain poorly understood. The dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) is a part of the brain that appears to be critically important for multiple aspects of our thinking, such as attention, learning, flexibility, and even creativity, but the specific contribution it makes to these processes is unclear. This proposal seeks to understand how dACC gives rise to flexible processing. Dr. Ben Hayden, University of Rochester, will perform three experiments using single-neuron recordings in dACC of rhesus macaques performing three novel decision-making tasks. He hypothesizes that dACC computes and transmits control signals that drive behavioral switching, learning, and maintaining the decisions that have been made. These complex cognitive functions are at the root of the ability to learn and to make good decisions.
The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is a region implicated in several psychiatric problems that are debilitating both to patient standard-of-life and to worldwide medical expenditure and economic productivity. Notably, these include long-term depression, anxiety disorder, OCD, schizophrenia amongst many others. Therefore, progress in understanding the computations performed by the ACC to control our behavior is essential. This work will highlight not only underlying neural mechanisms but also effective strategies for promoting such abilities, therefore potentially impacting individual function within the society. Finally, the researchers will participate in the big data effort by making the data available to support other coordinated NSF efforts that aim to make use of real data in the teaching of STEM related courses and to enable participation in discovery science by those who would otherwise have no access to such data.
