Braun Urs, Schäfer Axel, Walter Henrik, Erk Susanne, Romanczuk-Seiferth Nina, Haddad Leila, Schweiger Janina I, Grimm Oliver, Heinz Andreas, Tost Heike, Meyer-Lindenberg Andreas, Bassett Danielle S
Central Institute for Mental Health Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, Medical Faculty Mannheim, 68159 Mannheim, Germany;
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité-University Medicine Berlin, Campus Mitte, 10117 Berlin, Germany;
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2015 Sep 15;112(37):11678-83. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1422487112. Epub 2015 Aug 31.
The brain is an inherently dynamic system, and executive cognition requires dynamically reconfiguring, highly evolving networks of brain regions that interact in complex and transient communication patterns. However, a precise characterization of these reconfiguration processes during cognitive function in humans remains elusive. Here, we use a series of techniques developed in the field of "dynamic network neuroscience" to investigate the dynamics of functional brain networks in 344 healthy subjects during a working-memory challenge (the "n-back" task). In contrast to a control condition, in which dynamic changes in cortical networks were spread evenly across systems, the effortful working-memory condition was characterized by a reconfiguration of frontoparietal and frontotemporal networks. This reconfiguration, which characterizes "network flexibility," employs transient and heterogeneous connectivity between frontal systems, which we refer to as "integration." Frontal integration predicted neuropsychological measures requiring working memory and executive cognition, suggesting that dynamic network reconfiguration between frontal systems supports those functions. Our results characterize dynamic reconfiguration of large-scale distributed neural circuits during executive cognition in humans and have implications for understanding impaired cognitive function in disorders affecting connectivity, such as schizophrenia or dementia.
大脑是一个内在的动态系统，执行认知需要动态重新配置、高度进化的脑区网络，这些脑区以复杂且短暂的交流模式相互作用。然而，对人类认知功能期间这些重新配置过程的精确表征仍然难以捉摸。在这里，我们使用“动态网络神经科学”领域开发的一系列技术，来研究344名健康受试者在工作记忆挑战（“n-back”任务）期间功能性脑网络的动态变化。与对照条件（其中皮质网络的动态变化在各系统中均匀分布）相比，费力的工作记忆条件的特征是额顶叶和额颞叶网络的重新配置。这种表征“网络灵活性”的重新配置采用了额叶系统之间短暂且异质的连接，我们将其称为“整合”。额叶整合预测了需要工作记忆和执行认知的神经心理学测量指标，这表明额叶系统之间的动态网络重新配置支持了这些功能。我们的研究结果描绘了人类执行认知过程中大规模分布式神经回路的动态重新配置，并且对于理解影响连接性的疾病（如精神分裂症或痴呆症）中的认知功能受损具有启示意义。
