McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 01239, USA.
McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 01239, USA; Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 01239, USA.
Curr Biol. 2020 May 18;30(10):1881-1892.e3. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2020.03.028. Epub 2020 Apr 9.
In non-habitual situations, cognitive control aligns actions with both short- and long-term goals. The capacity for cognitive control is tightly tied to the prefrontal cortex, whose expansion in humans relative to other species is thought to support our superior cognitive control. However, the posterolateral cerebellum has also expanded greatly relative to non-human primates and has an organizational structure that mirrors the prefrontal cortex. Nevertheless, cerebellar contributions to cognitive control are poorly understood. Here, we sought to explore whether a functional hierarchical processing framework, applied to the cerebellum, could elucidate cerebellar contributions to cognitive control. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we show that a gradient within the posterolateral cerebellum supports cognitive control with motor-adjacent cerebellar sub-regions supporting control of concrete, proximal actions and motor-distal, cerebellar sub-regions supporting abstract, future processing. This gradient was functionally hierarchical, with regions higher in the hierarchy influencing the relationship between regions lower in the hierarchy. This functional hierarchy provides the infrastructure by which context can inform current actions and prepare for future goals. Crucially, this mirrors the hierarchical organization of cognitive control within the prefrontal cortex. Based on these findings, we propose that the cerebellum contains within itself a parallel but separate hierarchical organization that, along with the prefrontal cortex, supports complex cognition.
在非习惯性情境中，认知控制将行动与短期和长期目标协调一致。认知控制能力与前额叶皮层紧密相关，人类相对于其他物种的前额叶皮层扩张被认为支持了我们卓越的认知控制能力。然而，相对于非人类灵长类动物，后脑桥也有了极大的扩张，并且其组织结构与前额叶皮层相呼应。尽管如此，小脑对认知控制的贡献仍知之甚少。在这里，我们试图探索是否可以将一个适用于小脑的功能层次处理框架应用于小脑，以阐明小脑对认知控制的贡献。使用功能磁共振成像，我们发现后脑桥内的一个梯度支持认知控制，靠近运动的小脑亚区支持具体、近端动作的控制，远离运动的小脑亚区支持抽象、未来的加工。这个梯度具有功能层次性，层次较高的区域影响层次较低的区域之间的关系。这种功能层次结构提供了一种基础设施，通过这种基础设施，上下文可以为当前的行动提供信息，并为未来的目标做好准备。至关重要的是，这反映了前额叶皮层中认知控制的层次组织。基于这些发现，我们提出小脑内部存在一个平行但独立的层次组织，与前额叶皮层一起支持复杂的认知。
