University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada.
J Cogn Neurosci. 2011 Feb;23(2):481-90. doi: 10.1162/jocn.2010.21482. Epub 2010 Mar 29.
Numerous studies have established a role for the ACC in cognitive control. Current theories are at odds as to whether ACC itself directly engages or alternatively recruits other frontal cortical areas that implement control. The antisaccade task, in which subjects are required to make a saccade to the location opposite a suddenly appearing visual stimulus, is a simple oculomotor paradigm that has been used extensively to investigate flexible oculomotor control. Here, we tested a causal role of the dorsal ACC in cognitive control by applying electrical microstimulation during a preparatory period while monkeys performed alternating blocks of pro- and antisaccade trials. Microstimulation induced significant changes in saccadic RTs (SRTs) in both tasks. On prosaccade trials, SRTs were increased for saccades contralateral to and decreased for saccades ipsilateral to the stimulated hemisphere. In contrast, SRTs were decreased for both ipsi- and contralaterally directed antisaccades. These data show that microstimulation administered during response preparation facilitated the performance of antisaccades and are suggestive of a direct role of ACC in the implementation of cognitive control.
大量研究已经确定了 ACC 在认知控制中的作用。目前的理论存在分歧，即 ACC 本身是否直接参与或替代招募其他执行控制的额前皮质区域。反扫视任务要求被试在突然出现的视觉刺激的相反位置进行扫视，这是一种简单的眼球运动范式，被广泛用于研究灵活的眼球运动控制。在这里，我们通过在猴子执行正、反扫视试验交替块的准备期间施加电微刺激，测试了背侧 ACC 在认知控制中的因果作用。微刺激在两种任务中都引起了扫视反应时（SRT）的显著变化。在正扫视试验中，与刺激半球对侧的扫视的 SRT 增加，而刺激半球同侧的扫视的 SRT 减少。相比之下，对侧和同侧的反扫视的 SRT 都减少了。这些数据表明，在反应准备期间进行的微刺激促进了反扫视的完成，这表明 ACC 在执行认知控制中具有直接作用。
