Bush G, Shin L M, Holmes J, Rosen B R, Vogt B A
Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, USA.
Mol Psychiatry. 2003 Jan;8(1):60-70. doi: 10.1038/sj.mp.4001217.
Dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) plays critical roles in cognitive processing, but group-averaging techniques have generally been required to obtain significant dACC activation in functional neuroimaging studies. Development of a task that reliably and robustly activates dACC within individuals is needed to improve imaging studies of neuropsychiatric disorders and localization of dACC in normal volunteers. By combining sources of cognitive interference (Stroop, Eriksen and Simon) with factors known to increase dACC activity, the Multi-Source Interference Task (MSIT) maximally taxes dACC, making it possible to reliably activate dACC within individuals using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). In this study, eight normal adult volunteers performed the MSIT during fMRI. We compared fMRI responses and performance data between interference and control trials. Significant dACC activation (P < 1.7 x 10(-4)) was observed in all eight individuals and in the group-averaged fMRI data. In addition to dACC activation, group data also showed activation of presumably networked regions including dorsolateral prefrontal, premotor, and parietal cortices. The MSIT's reaction time interference effect (overall mean 312 +/- 61 ms) was up to 10 times greater than that of its component predecessors and temporally stable over hundreds of trials. The robustness, reliability and stability of the neuroimaging and performance data should make the MSIT a useful task with which to study normal human cognition and psychiatric pathophysiology.
背侧前扣带回皮质（dACC）在认知加工中起关键作用，但在功能神经影像学研究中，通常需要采用组平均技术才能获得显著的dACC激活。需要开发一种能在个体内可靠且有力地激活dACC的任务，以改善对神经精神疾病的影像学研究以及在正常志愿者中对dACC的定位。通过将认知干扰源（斯特鲁普、埃里克森和西蒙）与已知能增加dACC活动的因素相结合，多源干扰任务（MSIT）对dACC施加了最大负荷，使得利用功能磁共振成像（fMRI）在个体内可靠地激活dACC成为可能。在本研究中，八名正常成年志愿者在fMRI期间执行了MSIT。我们比较了干扰试验和对照试验之间的fMRI反应及表现数据。在所有八名个体以及组平均fMRI数据中均观察到显著的dACC激活（P < 1.7 x 10⁻⁴）。除了dACC激活外，组数据还显示出包括背外侧前额叶、运动前区和顶叶皮质在内的可能相互连接区域的激活。MSIT的反应时干扰效应（总体平均值312 ± 61毫秒）比其组成部分之前的任务大高达10倍，并且在数百次试验中在时间上保持稳定。神经影像学和表现数据的稳健性、可靠性和稳定性应使MSIT成为研究正常人类认知和精神病理生理学的有用任务。
