Chuikova Zhanna V, Filatov Andrei A, Faber Andrei Y, Arsalidou Marie
Centre for Cognition and Decision making, Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, HSE University, Moscow, Russian Federation.
Department of Pedagogy and Medical Psychology, Sechenov University, Moscow, Russian Federation.
Brain Imaging Behav. 2025 Feb;19(1):50-71. doi: 10.1007/s11682-024-00921-7. Epub 2024 Oct 29.
Cognitive flexibility allows individuals to switch between different tasks, strategies, or ideas; an ability that is important for everyday life. The Wisconsin card sorting test (WCST) and task switching paradigm (TSP) are popular measures of cognitive flexibility. Although both tasks require switching, the TSP requires participants to memorize switching rules and retrieve them when they view a cue (rule-retrieval), whereas the classic WCST requires participants to discover the switching rule via trial-and-error (rule-discovery). Many functional magnetic resonance imaging studies have examined brain responses to these tasks. Extant meta-analyses show concordance in activation in a widespread set of areas including frontal, parietal, and cingulate cortices. Critically, past meta-analyses have not specifically examined brain correlates associated with rule derivation (i.e., rule-discovery vs. rule-retrieval) in cognitive flexibility tasks. We examine for the first time common and distinct concordance in brain responses to rule-discovery (i.e., WCST) and rule-retrieval (i.e., TSP), as well as TSP subtypes using quantitative meta-analyses. We analyzed data from 69 eligible articles with a total of 1617 young-adult participants. Conjunction results show concordance in common fronto-parietal areas predominantly in the left hemisphere. Contrast analyses show that rule-discovery required increased involvement in multiple cortical and subcortical regions such as frontopolar (Brodmann Area 10), parietal, insular cortex, thalamus and caudate nucleus predominantly in the right hemisphere. No significant differences in concordance were observed among the three, task switching paradigm sub-types. We propose a neuroanatomical model of cognitive flexibility and discuss theoretical and practical applications.
认知灵活性使个体能够在不同任务、策略或想法之间进行切换；这一能力在日常生活中至关重要。威斯康星卡片分类测验（WCST）和任务切换范式（TSP）是认知灵活性的常用测量方法。尽管这两项任务都需要进行切换，但TSP要求参与者记住切换规则并在看到提示时检索这些规则（规则检索），而经典的WCST则要求参与者通过试错来发现切换规则（规则发现）。许多功能磁共振成像研究已经考察了大脑对这些任务的反应。现有的荟萃分析表明，在包括额叶、顶叶和扣带回皮质在内的广泛区域中，激活情况具有一致性。至关重要的是，过去的荟萃分析并未专门研究认知灵活性任务中与规则推导（即规则发现与规则检索）相关的大脑关联。我们首次使用定量荟萃分析来考察大脑对规则发现（即WCST）和规则检索（即TSP）以及TSP亚型的反应中共同和不同的一致性。我们分析了来自69篇符合条件的文章的数据，共有1617名青年参与者。联合分析结果显示，在主要位于左半球的额顶叶共同区域存在一致性。对比分析表明，规则发现需要更多地涉及多个皮质和皮质下区域，如额极（布罗德曼区10）、顶叶、岛叶皮质、丘脑和尾状核，主要位于右半球。在三种任务切换范式亚型之间，未观察到一致性的显著差异。我们提出了一个认知灵活性的神经解剖模型，并讨论了理论和实际应用。
