Klaasen Nicky G, Kos Claire, Aleman André, Opmeer Esther M
Department of Neuroscience, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
Department of Psychology, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
Hum Brain Mapp. 2017 May;38(5):2722-2733. doi: 10.1002/hbm.23556. Epub 2017 Mar 3.
Apathy is a prominent and influential symptom in several neurological and psychiatric disorders, but it also occurs in the healthy population. It has considerable impact on daily life functioning, in clinical as well as healthy samples. Even though cognitive control is thought to be disrupted in people with apathy, the exact neural underpinnings of apathy remain unclear. Because flexible shifting between behaviors (set-shifting) is crucial for goal-directed behavior, disruptions in set-shifting may underlie apathy. In this study, the neural correlates of apathy during set-shifting were studied in 34 healthy participants with varying levels of apathy, measured by the Apathy Evaluation Scale. During functional MRI scanning participants performed a set-shifting task, distinguishing between behavioral switches (a change in response to different stimuli), cognitive switches (a change in response rule), and salience decoupling (detecting a change in relevant stimuli). Regression analysis was used to assess the relationship between apathy and brain activation. Results showed that higher apathy scores were related to reduced activation in the medial superior frontal gyrus and cerebellum (Crus I/II) during cognitive set-shifting, but not behavioral shifting and salience decoupling. No relationship between apathy and accuracy or response time was found. These results support the idea that alterations in the neural basis of cognitive control, especially cognitive set-shifting, may contribute to apathy. Hum Brain Mapp 38:2722-2733, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
冷漠是几种神经和精神疾病中突出且有影响的症状，但在健康人群中也会出现。它对日常生活功能有相当大的影响，无论是在临床样本还是健康样本中。尽管人们认为冷漠患者的认知控制受到破坏，但冷漠的确切神经基础仍不清楚。由于行为之间的灵活转换（定势转换）对目标导向行为至关重要，定势转换的破坏可能是冷漠的基础。在本研究中，通过冷漠评估量表测量了34名冷漠程度不同的健康参与者在定势转换过程中冷漠的神经关联。在功能磁共振成像扫描期间，参与者执行了一项定势转换任务，区分行为转换（对不同刺激的反应变化）、认知转换（反应规则的变化）和显著性解耦（检测相关刺激的变化）。回归分析用于评估冷漠与大脑激活之间的关系。结果表明，在认知定势转换过程中，较高的冷漠得分与内侧额上回和小脑（小脑蚓部I/II）的激活减少有关，但与行为转换和显著性解耦无关。未发现冷漠与准确性或反应时间之间的关系。这些结果支持这样一种观点，即认知控制的神经基础，尤其是认知定势转换的改变，可能导致冷漠。《人类大脑图谱》38:2722 - 2733，2017年。© 2017威利期刊公司。
