School of Psychology; Center for the Study of Applied Psychology; Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science of Guangdong Province; Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences, Ministry of Education; South China Normal University, Guangzhou, 510631, China.
School of Computer Science and Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510006, China.
Commun Biol. 2024 May 1;7(1):517. doi: 10.1038/s42003-024-06214-5.
How does the human brain construct cognitive maps for decision-making and inference? Here, we conduct an fMRI study on a navigation task in multidimensional abstract spaces. Using a deep neural network model, we assess learning levels and categorized paths into exploration and exploitation stages. Univariate analyses show higher activation in the bilateral hippocampus and lateral prefrontal cortex during exploration, positively associated with learning level and response accuracy. Conversely, the bilateral orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and retrosplenial cortex show higher activation during exploitation, negatively associated with learning level and response accuracy. Representational similarity analysis show that the hippocampus, entorhinal cortex, and OFC more accurately represent destinations in exploitation than exploration stages. These findings highlight the collaboration between the medial temporal lobe and prefrontal cortex in learning abstract space structures. The hippocampus may be involved in spatial memory formation and representation, while the OFC integrates sensory information for decision-making in multidimensional abstract spaces.
人类大脑如何构建用于决策和推理的认知图？在这里，我们在多维抽象空间中的导航任务上进行了 fMRI 研究。使用深度神经网络模型，我们评估了学习水平，并将路径分类为探索和利用阶段。单变量分析显示，在探索过程中双侧海马体和外侧前额叶皮层的激活度更高，与学习水平和反应准确性呈正相关。相反，双侧眶额皮层（OFC）和后扣带回皮层在利用阶段的激活度更高，与学习水平和反应准确性呈负相关。代表性相似性分析表明，在利用阶段，海马体、内嗅皮层和 OFC 比探索阶段更准确地表示目的地。这些发现强调了内侧颞叶和前额叶皮层在学习抽象空间结构中的协作。海马体可能参与空间记忆的形成和表示，而 OFC 则整合多维抽象空间中的感觉信息以进行决策。
