Aston-Jones Gary, Cohen Jonathan D
Laboratory of Neuromodulation and Behavior, Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
Annu Rev Neurosci. 2005;28:403-50. doi: 10.1146/annurev.neuro.28.061604.135709.
Historically, the locus coeruleus-norepinephrine (LC-NE) system has been implicated in arousal, but recent findings suggest that this system plays a more complex and specific role in the control of behavior than investigators previously thought. We review neurophysiological and modeling studies in monkey that support a new theory of LC-NE function. LC neurons exhibit two modes of activity, phasic and tonic. Phasic LC activation is driven by the outcome of task-related decision processes and is proposed to facilitate ensuing behaviors and to help optimize task performance (exploitation). When utility in the task wanes, LC neurons exhibit a tonic activity mode, associated with disengagement from the current task and a search for alternative behaviors (exploration). Monkey LC receives prominent, direct inputs from the anterior cingulate (ACC) and orbitofrontal cortices (OFC), both of which are thought to monitor task-related utility. We propose that these frontal areas produce the above patterns of LC activity to optimize utility on both short and long timescales.
从历史上看，蓝斑 - 去甲肾上腺素（LC - NE）系统一直被认为与觉醒有关，但最近的研究结果表明，该系统在行为控制中所起的作用比研究人员之前认为的更为复杂和特殊。我们回顾了猴子的神经生理学和建模研究，这些研究支持了一种关于LC - NE功能的新理论。LC神经元表现出两种活动模式，即相位性和紧张性。相位性LC激活由与任务相关的决策过程的结果驱动，其作用是促进后续行为并帮助优化任务表现（利用）。当任务中的效用减弱时，LC神经元表现出紧张性活动模式，这与脱离当前任务并寻找替代行为（探索）有关。猴子的LC从扣带回前部（ACC）和眶额皮质（OFC）接收显著的直接输入，这两个区域都被认为是监测与任务相关的效用的。我们提出，这些额叶区域产生上述LC活动模式，以在短期和长期时间尺度上优化效用。
