Proposed neural circuitry for spatial memory in the primate brain

MRI morphometry of the anterior and posterior cerebellar vermis and its relationship to sensorimotor and cognitive functions in children

INTRODUCTION

The human cerebellum emerges as a posterior brain structure integrating neural networks for sensorimotor, cognitive, and emotional processing across the lifespan. Developmental studies of the cerebellar anatomy and function are scant. We examine age-dependent MRI morphometry of the anterior cerebellar vermis, lobules I-V and posterior neocortical lobules VI-VII and their relationship to sensorimotor and cognitive functions.

METHODS

Typically developing children (TDC; n=38; age 9-15) and healthy adults (HAC; n=31; 18-40) participated in high-resolution MRI. Rigorous anatomically informed morphometry of the vermis lobules I-V and VI-VII and total brain volume (TBV) employed manual segmentation computer-assisted FreeSurfer Image Analysis Program [http://surfer.nmr.mgh.harvard.edu]. The neuropsychological scores (WASI-II) were normalized and related to volumes of anterior, posterior vermis, and TBV.

RESULTS

TBVs were age independent. Volumes of I-V and VI-VII were significantly reduced in TDC. The ratio of VI-VII to I-V (∼60%) was stable across age-groups; I-V correlated with visual-spatial-motor skills; VI-VII with verbal, visual-abstract and FSIQ.

CONCLUSIONS

In TDC neither anterior I-V nor posterior VI-VII vermis attained adult volumes. The "inverted U" developmental trajectory of gray matter peaking in adolescence does not explain this finding. The hypothesis of protracted development of oligodendrocyte/myelination is suggested as a contributor to TDC's lower cerebellar vermis volumes.

Continuity and change in neural plasticity through embryonic morphogenesis, fetal activity-dependent synaptogenesis, and infant memory consolidation

There is an apparent continuity in human neural development that can be traced to venerable themes of vertebrate morphogenesis that have shaped the evolution of the reptilian telencephalon (including both primitive three-layered cortex and basal ganglia) and then the subsequent evolution of the mammalian six-layered neocortex. In this theoretical analysis, we propose that an evolutionary-developmental analysis of these general morphogenetic themes can help to explain the embryonic development of the dual divisions of the limbic system that control the dorsal and ventral networks of the human neocortex. These include the archicortical (dorsal limbic) Papez circuits regulated by the hippocampus that organize spatial, contextual memory, as well as the paleocortical (ventral limbic) circuits that organize object memory. We review evidence that these dorsal and ventral limbic divisions are controlled by the differential actions of brainstem lemnothalamic and midbrain collothalamic arousal control systems, respectively, thereby traversing the vertebrate subcortical neuraxis. These dual control systems are first seen shaping the phyletic morphogenesis of the archicortical and paleocortical foundations of the forebrain in embryogenesis. They then provide dual modes of activity-dependent synaptic organization in the active (lemnothalamic) and quiet (collothalamic) stages of fetal sleep. Finally, these regulatory systems mature to form the major systems of memory consolidation of postnatal development, including the rapid eye movement (lemnothalamic) consolidation of implicit memory and social attachment in the first year, and then-in a subsequent stage-the non-REM (collothalamic) consolidation of explicit memory that is integral to the autonomy and individuation of the second year of life.

Neurophysiological Mechanisms of Implicit and Explicit Memory in the Process of Consciousness

Neurophysiological mechanisms are increasingly understood to constitute the foundations of human conscious experience. These include the capacity for ongoing memory, achieved through a hierarchy of reentrant cross-laminar connections across limbic, heteromodal, unimodal, and primary cortices. The neurophysiological mechanisms of consciousness also include the capacity for volitional direction of attention to the ongoing cognitive process, through a reentrant fronto-thalamo-cortical network regulation of the inhibitory thalamic reticular nucleus. More elusive is the way that discrete objects of subjective experience, such as the color of deep blue or the sound of middle C, could be generated by neural mechanisms. Explaining such ineffable qualities of subjective experience is what Chalmers has called “the hard problem of consciousness,” which has divided modern neuroscientists and philosophers alike. We propose that insight into the appearance of the hard problem can be gained through integrating classical phenomenological studies of experience with recent progress in the differential neurophysiology of consolidating explicit versus implicit memory. Although the achievement of consciousness, once it is reflected upon, becomes explicit, the underlying process of generating consciousness, through neurophysiological mechanisms, is largely implicit. Studying the neurophysiological mechanisms of adaptive implicit memory, including brain stem, limbic, and thalamic regulation of neocortical representations, may lead to a more extended phenomenological understanding of both the neurophysiological process and the subjective experience of consciousness.

NEW & NOTEWORTHY The process of consciousness, generating the qualia that may appear to be irreducible qualities of experience, can be understood to arise from neurophysiological mechanisms of memory. Implicit memory, organized by the lemnothalamic brain stem projections and dorsal limbic consolidation in REM sleep, supports the unconscious field and the quasi-conscious fringe of current awareness. Explicit memory, organized by the collothalamic midbrain projections and ventral limbic consolidation of NREM sleep, supports the focal objects of consciousness.

Motive control of unconscious inference: The limbic base of adaptive Bayes

Current computational models of neocortical processing, described as predictive coding theory, are providing new ways of understanding Helmholtz's classical insight that perception cannot proceed in a data-driven fashion, but instead requires unconscious inference based on prior experience. Predictive coding is a Bayesian process, in which the operations at each lower level of the cortical hierarchy are predicted by prior projections of expectancies from a higher level, and are then updated by error-correction with lower level evidence. To generalize the predictive coding model to the human neocortex as a whole requires aligning the Bayesian negotiation of prior expectancies with sensory and motor evidence not only within the connectional architecture of the neocortex (primary sensory/motor, unimodal association areas, and heteromodal association areas) but also with the limbic cortex that forms the base for the adaptive control of the heteromodal areas and thereby the cerebral hemisphere as a whole. By reviewing the current evidence on the anatomy of the human corticolimbic connectivity (now formalized as the Structural Model) we address the problem of how limbic cortex resonates to the homeostatic, personal significance of events to provide Bayesian priors to organize the operations of predictive coding across the multiple levels of the neocortex. By reviewing both classical evidence and current models of control exerted between limbic and neocortical networks, we suggest a neuropsychological theory of human cognition, the adaptive Bayes process model, in which prior expectancies are not simply rationalized propositions, but rather affectively-charged expectancies that bias the interpretation of sensory data and action affordances to support allostasis, the motive control of expectancies for future events.

Asymmetries in initiation of aiming movements in schizophrenia

Several studies have reported motor symptoms in schizophrenia (SCZ), in some cases describing asymmetries in their manifestation. To date, biases were mainly reported for sequential movements, and the hypothesis was raised of a dopamine-related hemispheric imbalance. Aim of this research is to better characterize asymmetries in movement initiation in SCZ by exploring single actions. Fourteen SCZ patients and fourteen healthy subjects were recruited. On a trial-by-trial basis, participants were instructed to reach for one of eight possible targets. Measures of movement initiation and execution were collected. Starting point, target and moving limb were systematically varied to check for asymmetric responses. Results showed that SCZ patients, besides being overall slower than controls, additionally presented with a bias affecting both the moving hand and the side from which movements were initiated. This finding is discussed in relation to hemispheric lateralization in motor control.

Differences in spectral profiles between rostral and caudal premotor cortex when hand-eye actions are decoupled

The aim of this research was to understand how the brain controls voluntary movement when not directly interacting with the object of interest. In the present study, we examined the role of premotor cortex in this behavior. The goal of this study was to characterize the oscillatory activity within the caudal and rostral subdivisions of dorsal premotor cortex (PMdc and PMdr) with a change from the most basic reaching movement to one that involves a simple dissociation between the actions of the eyes and hand. We were specifically interested in how PMdr and PMdc respond when the eyes and hand are decoupled by moving along different spatial planes. We recorded single-unit activity and local field potentials within PMdr and PMdc from two rhesus macaques during performance of two types of visually guided reaches. During the standard condition, a visually guided reach was performed whereby the visual stimulus guiding the movement was the target of the reach itself. During the nonstandard condition, the visual stimulus provided information about the direction of the required movement but was not the target of the motor output. We observed distinct task-related and topographical differences between PMdr and PMdc. Our results support functional differences between PMdr and PMdc during visually guided reaching. PMdr activity appears more involved in integrating the rule-based aspects of a visually guided reach, whereas PMdc is more involved in the online updating of the decoupled reach. More broadly, our results highlight the necessity of accounting for the nonstandard nature of a motor task when interpreting movement control research data.

Executive control: balancing stability and flexibility via the duality of evolutionary neuroanatomical trends

The concept of executive functions has a rich history and remains current despite increased use of other terms, including working memory and cognitive control. Executive functions have sometimes been equated with functions subserved by the frontal cortex, but this adds little clarity, given that we so far lack a comprehensive theory of frontal function. Pending a more complete mechanistic understanding, clinically useful generalizations can help characterize both healthy cognition and multiple varieties of cognitive impairment. This article surveys several hierarchical and autoregulatory control theories, and suggests that the evolutionary cytoarchitectonic trends theory provides a valuable neuroanatomical framework to help organize research on frontal structure-function relations. The theory suggests that paleocortical/ventrolateral and archicortical/dorsomedial trends are associated with neural network flexibility and stability respectively, which comports well with multiple other conceptual distinctions that have been proposed to characterize ventral and dorsal frontal functions, including the “initiation/inhibition,” “what/where,” and “classification/expectation” hypotheses.

Transformation of temporal processing across auditory cortex of awake macaques

The anatomy and connectivity of the primate auditory cortex has been modeled as a core region receiving direct thalamic input surrounded by a belt of secondary fields. The core contains multiple tonotopic fields (including the primary auditory cortex, AI, and the rostral field, R), but available data only partially address the degree to which those fields are functionally distinct. This report, based on single-unit recordings across four hemispheres in awake macaques, argues that the functional organization of auditory cortex is best understood in terms of temporal processing. Frequency tuning, response threshold, and strength of activation are similar between AI and R, validating their inclusion as a unified core, but the temporal properties of the fields clearly differ. Onset latencies to pure tones are longer in R (median, 33 ms) than in AI (20 ms); moreover, synchronization of spike discharges to dynamic modulations of stimulus amplitude and frequency, similar to those present in macaque and human vocalizations, suggest distinctly different windows of temporal integration in AI (20-30 ms) and R (100 ms). Incorporating data from the adjacent auditory belt reveals that the divergence of temporal properties within the core is in some cases greater than the temporal differences between core and belt.

Relationships between the superior colliculus and hippocampus: Neural and behavioral considerations

Theories of superior collicular and hippocampal function have remarkable similarities. Both structures have been repeatedly implicated in spatial and attentional behaviour and in inhibitory control of locomotion. Moreover, they share certain electrophysiological properties in their single unit responses and in the synchronous appearance and disappearance of slow wave activity. Both are phylogenetically old and the colliculus projects strongly to brainstem nuclei instrumental in the generation of theta rhythm in the hippocampal EEC

On the other hand, close inspection of behavioural and electrophysiological data reveals disparities. In particular, hippocampal processing mainly concerns stimulus ambiguity, contextual significance, and spatial relations or other subtle, higher order characteristics. This requires the use of largely preprocessed sensory information and mediation of poststimulus investigation. Although collicular activity must also be integrated with that of “higher” centres (probably to a varying degree, depending on the nature of stimuli being processed and the task requirements), its primary role in attention is more “peripheral” and specific in controlling orienting/localisation via eye and body movements toward egocentrically labelled spatial positions. In addition, the colliculus may exert a nonspecific influence in alerting higher centres to the imminence of information potentially worthy of focal attention. Nevertheless, it is noteworthy that collicular and hippocampal lesions produce deficits on similar tasks, although the type of deficit is usually different (often opposite) in each case. Functional overlap between hippocampus and colliculus (i.e., strategically synchronised or mutually interdependent activity) is virtually certain vis-à-vis stimulus sampling, for example in the acquisition of information via vibrissal movements and visual scanning. In addition, insofar as stimulus significance is a factor in collicular orienting mechanisms, the hippocampus — cingulate – cortex — colliculus pathway may play a significant role, modulating collicular responsiveness and thus ensuring an attentional strategy appropriate to current requirements (stimulus familiarity, stage of learning). A tentative “reciprocal loop” model is proposed which bridges physiological and behavioural levels of analysis and which would account for the observed degree and nature of functional overlap between the superior colliculus and hippocampus.

The human parahippocampal region: I. Temporal pole cytoarchitectonic and MRI correlation

The temporal pole (TP) is the rostralmost portion of the human temporal lobe. Characteristically, it is only present in human and nonhuman primates. TP has been implicated in different cognitive functions such as emotion, attention, behavior, and memory, based on functional studies performed in healthy controls and patients with neurodegenerative diseases through its anatomical connections (amygdala, pulvinar, orbitofrontal cortex). TP was originally described as a single uniform area by Brodmann area 38, and von Economo (area TG of von Economo and Koskinas), and little information on its cytoarchitectonics is known in humans. We hypothesize that 1) TP is not a homogenous area and we aim first at fixating the precise extent and limits of temporopolar cortex (TPC) with adjacent fields and 2) its structure can be correlated with structural magnetic resonance images. We describe here the macroscopic characteristics and cytoarchitecture as two subfields, a medial and a lateral area, that constitute TPC also noticeable in 2D and 3D reconstructions. Our findings suggest that the human TP is a heterogeneous region formed exclusively by TPC for about 7 mm of the temporal tip, and that becomes progressively restricted to the medial and ventral sides of the TP. This cortical area presents topographical and structural features in common with nonhuman primates, which suggests an evolutionary development in human species.

Neuroprotective effect of atypical antipsychotics in cognitive and non-cognitive behavioral impairment in animal models

Antipsychotic drugs are divided into two groups: typical and atypical. Recent clinical studies show atypical antipsychotics have advantages over typical antipsychotics in a wide variety of neuropsychiatric conditions, in terms of greater efficacy for positive and negative symptoms, beneficial effects on cognitive functioning, and fewer extra pyramidal side effects in treating schizophrenia. As such, atypical antipsychotics may be effective in the treatment of depressive symptoms associated with psychotic and mood disorders, posttraumatic stress disorder and psychosis in Alzheimer disease. In this paper, we describe the effects and potential neurochemical mechanisms of action of atypical antipsychotics in several animal models showing memory impairments and/or non-cognitive behavioral changes. The data provide new insights into the mechanisms of action of atypical antipsychotics that may broaden their clinical applications.

Discharges in ventromedial frontal cortex during absence spells

Neural mechanisms of conscious attention require thalamic control of widespread cortical networks. Absence spells involve a momentary loss of voluntary control of attention, during which the person is inactive and unresponsive. The spike-wave seizure discharges of these spells rapidly engage both cerebral hemispheres in the classic sign of a "generalized" seizure. Animal evidence suggests that spike-wave seizures are caused by a disruption of thalamic circuitry, with extensive spread to cortex through thalamocortical propagation. We applied advanced methods of electrical source analysis to dense array (256-channel) electroencephalographic recordings of spike-wave discharges of absence spells. Neither the onset nor the spread of these seizures is generalized. Rather, the slow waves of the discharges are restricted to frontotemporal networks, and the spikes represent a highly localized and stereotyped progression of electrophysiological activity in ventromedial frontal networks. Given the current knowledge of the neurophysiology of absence seizures, this specificity of the frontal cortical discharges suggests the hypothesis that absence spells are associated with pathology in a circuit comprising ventromedial frontal cortex, rostral thalamic reticular nucleus, and limbic nuclei of the thalamus. Disrupted in absence, this circuit appears to regulate important aspects of the voluntary control of conscious attention.

The effects of chronic administration of quetiapine on the phencyclidine-induced reference memory impairment and decrease of Bcl-XL/Bax ratio in the posterior cingulate cortex in rats

Quetiapine, a new atypical antipsychotic drug, effectively alleviates positive and negative symptoms, as well as cognitive impairment that may be caused by neurodegeneration, in schizophrenia patients. Earlier in vivo and in vitro studies have demonstrated that quetiapine may be a neuroprotectant. The present study was designed to examine the beneficial effects of quetiapine on the possible cognitive impairment and changes of brain apoptotic regulation proteins induced by phencyclidine (PCP) in rats. Rats were treated with quetiapine (10 mg/kg/day; intraperitoneal (i.p.)) or vehicle for 16 days. On day 14, 1 h after the administration of quetiapine, the rats were given PCP (50 mg/kg; subcutaneous (s.c.)) or vehicle. Then quetiapine was administrated for an additional 2 days. One day after the last quetiapine injection (3 days after the PCP injection), the rats were trained on a spatial memory task in a radial arm maze. After the behavioural test, the rats were decapitated for Western blot analysis. PCP induced reference memory impairment, and a decrease of the ratio of an anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 family member (Bcl-XL) to a pro-apoptotic analogue (Bax) in the posterior cingulate cortex. Chronic administration of quetiapine counteracted the PCP-induced reference memory impairment and decrease of Bcl-XL/Bax ratio in the posterior cingulate cortex. These results suggest that quetiapine may have ameliorating effects on the cognitive impairment and brain apoptotic processes induced by PCP.

Posterior neocortical (visual cortex) lesions in the rat impair matching-to-place navigation in a swimming pool: a reevaluation of cortical contributions to spatial behavior using a new assessment of spatial versus non-spatial behavior

In the face of contradictory findings on the role of visual cortex contributions to spatial behavior, the present study evaluated the ability of rats with primary visual cortex (Area 17) lesions to learn spatial problems in a swimming pool. Because the solution to any spatial learning problem consists of acquiring at least two primary elements of a task, task procedures and spatial learning, the study, in addition to assessing spatial ability on a place task, used two training/testing methods to identify the nature of the spatial impairment associated with visual cortex lesions. Non-spatial training consisted of learning to find a platform in the dark and spatial training consisted of a series of matching-to-place problems. The results confirmed that although rats with visual cortex lesions were impaired on place learning, the deficit was partially ameliorated by non-spatial training given following the lesion, and completely ameliorated by non-spatial training given before the lesion. Nevertheless, all visual cortex groups failed to show a quadrant preference on a probe trial and displayed a profound impairment in matching-to-place learning. This definitive demonstration that appropriate testing methods can reveal a failure in spatial behavior following visual cortex lesions is consistent with the idea that primary visual cortex is required in spatial navigation.

Posterior neocortical (visual cortex) lesions in the rat impair matching-to-place navigation in a swimming pool: a reevaluation of cortical contributions to spatial behavior using a new assessment of spatial versus nonspatial behavior

In the face of contradictory findings on the role of visual cortex contributions to spatial behavior, the present study evaluated the ability of rats with primary visual cortex (area 17) lesions to learn spatial problems in a swimming pool. Because the solution to any spatial learning problem consists of acquiring at least two primary elements of a task, task procedures and spatial learning, the study, in addition to assessing spatial ability on a place task, used two training/testing methods to identify the nature of the spatial impairment associated with visual cortex lesions. Non-spatial training consisted of learning to find a platform in the dark and spatial training consisted of a series of matching-to-place problems. The results confirmed that although rats with visual cortex lesions were impaired on place learning, the deficit was partially ameliorated by non-spatial training given following the lesion, and completely ameliorated by non-spatial training given before the lesion. Nevertheless, all visual cortex groups failed to show a quadrant preference on a probe trial and displayed a profound impairment in matching-to-place learning. This definitive demonstration that appropriate testing methods can reveal a failure in spatial behavior following visual cortex lesions is consistent with the idea that primary visual cortex is required in spatial navigation.

Corticolimbic mechanisms in emotional decisions

Midline frontolimbic networks are engaged in monitoring simple actions. They may also provide evaluative control for more complex decisions. Subjects read a trait-descriptive word and responded either "yes" or "no" within 1,500 ms whether it was self-descriptive. By 300 ms, an electrophysiological discrimination between good and bad words was seen over centromedial regions of the frontal lobe for both friend and self-decisions. By 350 ms, an interaction effect between evaluation and endorsement appeared, and by 500 ms, activity specific to self-evaluation was seen in both anterior and posterior midline sites. An evaluative decision thus begins by recruiting motivational and semantic influences within limbic networks, and these influences appear to shape the development of the decision within multiple neocortical regions.

Impaired spatial performance in rats with retrosplenial lesions: importance of the spatial problem and the rat strain in identifying lesion effects in a swimming pool

Behavioral, electrophysiological, and anatomical evidence suggests that retrosplenial (RS) cortex (areas RSA and RSG) plays a role in spatial navigation. This conclusion has been questioned in recent work, suggesting that it is damage to the underlying cingulum bundle (CG) (areas CG and IG), and not RS, that disrupts spatial place learning (Aggleton et al., 2000). We revisited this issue by comparing Long-Evans rats, the strain used in studies that report RS deficits, to Dark Agouti rats, the strain in which no RS deficit has been reported. Rat groups with RS, RS + CG, or no lesion were tested on a place task in a swimming pool, a test of nonspatial and spatial learning, and a matching-to-place task, a relatively selective test of spatial learning. Long-Evans rats given RS and RS + CG lesions, either before or after training on the two tasks, were impaired on both tasks, a deficit not attributable to impaired visual acuity. Control Dark Agouti rats and RS Dark Agouti rats, although not different on the place task, were both significantly impaired relative to Long-Evans rats. The RS Dark Agouti group, however, was also impaired on the matching-to-place task. Thus, we show that RS cortex is part of an extended neural circuit involved in spatial behavior in both Long-Evans and Dark Agouti rats, but its role in the place task may be masked by an innate nonspatial deficit in Dark Agouti rats. The results are discussed in relation to the importance of assessing spatial learning with appropriate spatial tests, the problems of interpretation posed by rat strain differences, and the role of retrosplenial cortex in spatial behavior.

Deficits in allothetic and idiothetic spatial behavior in rats with posterior cingulate cortex lesions

The cingulate cortex plays a central role in bridging neocortical and limbic structures involved in allothetic navigation, a form of navigation requiring the use of external cues. Animals can also navigate using idiothetic cues, which are cues generated by self-movement, but there have been no definitive tests of whether cingulate cortex also plays a role in idiothetic navigation. Rats with anterior cingulate (medial frontal) and posterior cingulate cortex (retrosplenial) suction ablations were trained to search for large food pellets on an open table, and the accuracy with which they returned home with the food was measured. In the idiothetic task they searched for food from a novel starting location under infrared light, and with surface olfactory cues displaced. The rats also received two tests of allothetic navigation. They were tested on a matching-to-place task in which they foraged for food from a number of successively presented new locations under normal room light, and they were trained to locate a hidden platform in a swimming pool (Morris place task). The group with posterior cingulate cortex lesions was severely impaired on all of the navigation tasks whereas the group with anterior cingulate cortex lesions displayed no deficit on the idiothetic task and only moderate deficits on the other tasks. The results demonstrate a role for posterior cingulate region in idiothetic navigation.

Allocentric visuospatial processing in patients with cerebral gliomas: a neurocognitive assessment

Visuospatial function is a central neuropsychological domain which has been neglected in brain tumor studies. This study examined visuospatial function in 4 groups of brain tumor patients. The investigation involved 27 adult tumor subjects, 25 of whom had undergone resection and radiotherapy. Ten normal adults acted as controls. The 4 tumor groups were based on neuroanatomic locus - focal lesions were localized to clearly defined visuospatial areas in the left or right posterior parietal cortex or prefrontal cortex. Neuroanatomic and visuospatial assessment parameters were specified: only allocentric ('mental' or 'conceptual') operations were examined. A theoretical framework outlined the role of the posterior parietal and prefrontal cortices in allocentric spatial processing. Six visuospatial tests involving allocentric operations were applied to patients in whom tumors involved these cortical areas. In numerous analyses, the 4 tumor groups showed no significant differences with the control group on the allocentric tests. Between-group comparisons were also not significant. Analyses by gender revealed significant differences on shape rotation and line orientation tests, especially in the right hemisphere and parietal groups. Comparisons between focal radiation subgroups and 'nonradiation' subgroups produced unclear results. The main conclusions are that despite the presence of frontal or parietal tumors, (1) allocentric processing is hardly compromised, and (2) females show lower spatial performance than males due to tumor-related effects on a pre-existing pattern of cerebral lateralization. The study emphasizes the need to address visuospatial function in the neuropsychological study of brain tumor patients, particularly the role of intact spatial processing in this patient group.

Factor structure and familiality of first-rank symptoms in sibling pairs with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder

BACKGROUND

Since their introduction as diagnostic criteria by Schneider in 1937, nuclear symptoms have played a key role in concepts of schizophrenia, but their relationship to each other and to genetic predisposition has been unclear.

AIMS

To ascertain the factor structure and familiality of nuclear symptoms.

METHODS

Nuclear (Schneiderian) symptoms were extracted from case notes and interviews in a study of 103 sibling pairs with DSM-III-R schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder.

RESULTS

Principal components analysis demonstrated two major factors: one, accounting for about 50% of the variance, groups thought withdrawal, insertion and broadcasting, with delusions of control; and the second, accounting for < 20% of the variance, groups together third-person voices, thought echo and running commentary. Factor I was significantly correlated within sibling pairs.

CONCLUSIONS

The correlation within sibling pairs suggests that, contrary to the conclusion of some previous studies, some nuclear symptoms do show a degree of familiality and therefore perhaps heritability.

The neuroanatomical correlates of route learning impairment

Recent functional imaging studies of topographical learning point to the participation of a large network of cortical and subcortical regions. Nevertheless, areas which are crucial remain poorly specified due to the absence of group studies of subjects with focal lesions distributed throughout the brain. We assessed the ability of 127 subjects with stable, focal lesions to learn a complex real-life route, a critical aspect of topographical functioning. Results indicated that impairment in route learning was highly associated with damage to medial occipital and posterior parahippocampal cortices in either hemisphere, the right hippocampus, and the right inferotemporal region. Impairment was seen among 86% of the subjects with damage to any these regions, in contrast to impairment among 31% of subjects with lesions in other regions. The importance of medial occipitotemporal cortices bilaterally and right inferotemporal cortex likely reflects the critical role of the ability to quickly and accurately perceive and learn multiple topographical scenes. The importance of the right (and probably left) posterior parahippocampal gyrus and of the right hippocampus likely reflects their critical, distinctive roles forming an integrated representation of the extended topographical environment (i.e., the appearance of places and spatial relationships between specific places), and consolidating that representation into multifaceted contextual knowledge of the environment.

Respiratory-related evoked potential elicited by expiratory occlusion

Respiratory-related evoked potentials (RREPs) have been elicited by inspiratory loads in adults and children. The RREP was recorded over the somatosensory region of the cerebral cortex. It was hypothesized that a RREP could be recorded by using expiratory occlusion. Electroencephalographic activity was recorded in adults from 14 scalp locations, referenced to the linked earlobes. The occlusion was presented as an interruption of expiration. Epochs of electroencephalographic activity and mouth pressure were recorded for each expiratory occlusion presentation. There were two occlusion trials and a control trial of 100 presentations each. The epochs in each trial were averaged and examined for the presence of short-latency, occlusion-related peaks. RREP peaks were observed bilaterally with expiratory occlusion and were absent in control unoccluded averages. A positive peak, P(34), was observed at central and postcentral sites. A negative peak, N(53), was observed at frontal and central sites. A second positive peak, P(95), was observed at frontal and central sites. These results demonstrate that expiratory occlusion elicits a RREP. This suggests that expiratory occlusion-related sensory information activates the cerebral cortex similar to that for inspiratory loads.

Pure topographical disorientation related to dysfunction of the viewpoint dependent visual system

A 70-year-old woman presented with pure topographical disorientation following haemorrhage in the right medial parietal lobe. She could not navigate in the real world despite good ability to draw maps, describe routes, and identify objects and buildings. Her performance on mental rotation, visual memory, and spatial learning tests also was normal. In contrast, she failed totally in a locomotor map test and in a task in which she was requested to judge viewpoints of buildings. Her highly selective topographical disorientation was probably caused by the inability to identify a viewpoint of a particular building. The lesion may have disconnected the association between the spatial information processed in the lateral parietal lobe and the visual memory mediated by the limbic system, which seems to be important for viewpoint dependent analysis.

Comparing the effects of selective cingulate cortex lesions and cingulum bundle lesions on water maze performance by rats

The ability of rats to learn the location of a hidden platform in a swim maze was compared in animals with excitotoxic lesions of the anterior or posterior (retrosplenial) cingulate cortex or radiofrequency lesions of the cingulum bundle or fimbria-fornix. Performance of this allocentric spatial task was unaffected by the posterior cingulate cortex lesions, while anterior cingulate cortex damage produced only a mild acquisition deficit. Transection of the fornix and lesions of the cingulum bundle produced similar patterns of impairment on initial acquisition, but the cingulum bundle lesions had less effect on reversal of the task. The results from the water maze, and from a subsequent T-maze alternation task, indicate that cingulum bundle lesions can produce a spatial deficit that is similar, but milder, to that observed after fornix transection. The results of the excitotoxic lesions suggest that previous studies examining conventional cingulate lesions may have been influenced by damage to adjacent fibre tracts, such as the cingulum bundle.

Dissociable effects of anterior and posterior cingulate cortex lesions on the acquisition of a conditional visual discrimination: facilitation of early learning vs. impairment of late learning

Two experiments investigated the effects of quinolinic acid induced lesions of the anterior and posterior cingulate cortices on the acquisition and performance of a conditional visual discrimination (CVD) task, in which rats were required to learn a rule of the type: "If lights are flashing FAST, press the right lever; if SLOW press left". In Experiment 1, animals with lesions of the anterior cingulate cortex (ANT group) demonstrated a significant enhancement in learning during the early stages of task acquisition. Conversely, animals with lesions of the posterior cingulate cortex (POS group) were impaired in learning during the later stages of acquisition. There were no significant differences between the ANT and POS groups on the performance of the task when either variable inter-trial intervals or reduced stimulus durations were imposed. In Experiment 2, the specificity of the lesion effects for processes operative during the early and late stages of learning was tested. Animals were trained to a criterion of 70% correct choices on two consecutive sessions prior to lesioning, and subsequently allowed to continue to acquire the task to the mean asymptotic performance level of 85% correct choices on two consecutive sessions. Animals of the POS group were impaired in learning during this later stage of task acquisition, thus replicating the pattern of results obtained in Experiment 1. The animals in Experiment 2 were then tested following a 30-day retention interval and during extinction (removal of sucrose from the magazine). The extinction test revealed an impairment in the ability of animals in the ANT group to omit lever responses in the absence of reinforcement. These results indicate that the anterior and posterior cingulate cortices are functionally dissociable, and suggest that they may form part of complementary, but competing, learning and memory systems.

Noxious colorectal distention induced-c-Fos protein in limbic brain structures in the rat

Colorectal distention is a non-invasive stimulus used to study visceral pain processing in the nervous system. In this study, immunocytochemical labeling for the immediate-early gene, c-Fos, was used to map limbic brain structures involved in processing visceral pain. Rats received noxious colorectal distention while loosely restrained or loose restraint without distention (control). The brains were immunostained and the density of Fos-labeled nuclei within areas of the brain associated with limbic function were examined. Many cortical (cingulate; retrosplenial; insular; perirhinal, entorhinal) and subcortical (periaqueductal gray; locus coeruleus; lateral parabrachial area; paraventricular, anterodorsal and centromedian thalamic nuclei; lateral septal area; dorsomedial hypothalamus; cortical amygdala; subiculum) areas were labeled in the control rats, but significantly more Fos was observed in these areas following noxious colorectal distention (CRD). Additional areas were labeled following CRD but not restraint (e.g. infralimbic and prelimbic cortices; mediodorsal thalamic nucleus; central amygdaloid nucleus). The results show that noxious visceral stimuli result in Fos expression in limbic structures that exceeds that induced by restraint stress, suggesting that different pathways and circuits are recruited by stimuli which can produce similar emotional responses.

Social and emotional self-regulation

In humans, frontal lesions result in deficits of social and emotional behavior that are often surprising in the presence of intact language and other cognitive skills. The connections between the motivation and memory functions of limbic cortex and the motor planning functions of frontal neocortex must be fundamental to meeting the daily challenges of self-regulation. The connectional architecture of limbic and neocortical networks suggests a model of function. The densely interconnected paralimbic cortices may serve to maintain a global motivational context within which specific actions are articulated and sequenced within frontal neocortical networks. The paralimbic networks represent the visceral and kinesthetic information that is integral to the representation of the bodily self. In a general sense, the implicit self-representation within paralimbic networks may shape the significance of perceptions and the motivational context for developing actions. The network architecture of the frontal lobe reflects the dual limbic origins of frontal cortex, in the dorsal archicortical and ventral paleocortical structures. In this paper, we speculated that these two limbic-cortical pathways apply different motivational biases to direct the frontal lobe representation of working memory. The dorsal limbic mechanisms projecting through the cingulate gyrus may be influenced by hedonic evaluations, social attachments, and they may initiate a mode of motor control that is holistic and impulsive. In contrast, the ventral limbic pathway from the amygdala to orbital frontal cortex may implement a tight, restricted mode of motor control that reflects adaptive constraints of self-preservation. In the human brain, hemispheric specialization appears to have led to asymmetric elaborations of the dorsal and ventral pathways. Understanding the inherent asymmetries of corticolimbic architecture may be important in interpreting the increasing evidence that the left and right frontal lobes contribute differently to normal and pathological forms of self-regulation.

Mental representation of knowledge following frontal-lobe or postrolandic lesions

The aims of this study were to examine the role of the prefrontal cortex in the representation of familiar activities using scripts, and to compare both Shallice's [Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. Lond. B. Vol. 298, pp. 199-209, 1982] and Grafman's [Integrating Theory and Practice in Clinical Neuropsychology, pp. 93-138, Lawrence Erlbaum, Hillsdale, New Jersey, 1989] models of schematic representation of knowledge. Twelve patients with frontal-lobe damage, nine with postrolandic lesions, and 13 normal control subjects were asked to generate actions belonging to six different scripts in a forward condition, and to two others in a backward condition. The latter condition was included to test Shallice's hypothesis that damage to the frontal lobes would only affect the execution of non-routine tasks. The results showed that patients with frontal-lobe lesions produced scripts that were deprived of contextual elements and made more sequencing errors in the forward condition than matched normal control subjects, hence suggesting that the frontal cortex contributes to the production of an adequate mental representation of routine events. By contrast, the performance of the two clinical groups did not differ from the control subjects in their ability to generate scripts in the backward condition, although these three groups of subjects generated fewer actions in the latter condition. Further qualitative analyses demonstrated that patients with parietal-, but not with temporal-lobe lesions, produced sequencing errors in both forward and backward conditions. The latter findings suggest that the frontal lobes, together with the parietal cortex, may play a special role in establishing the spatio-temporal position of events within a script. The results of this study are discussed in terms of the recent models developed by Shallice and Grafman concerning the contribution of the frontal lobes in the mental representation of knowledge.

The effects of AMPA-induced lesions of the medial septum and vertical limb nucleus of the diagonal band of Broca on spatial delayed non-matching to sample and spatial learning in the water maze

These experiments investigated in the rat the impact on spatial delayed non-matching to sample and on acquisition of the Morris water maze of (i) AMPA-induced lesions of the medial septal nucleus, which produced a marked reduction of hippocampal choline acetyltransferase activity and acetylcholine levels (measured using in vivo dialysis) together with lesser reductions in cholinergic markers in the cingulate cortex and (ii) similar AMPA-induced lesions of the vertical limb nucleus of the diagonal band of Broca (vDB), which produced more marked reductions in cholinergic markers in the cingulate cortex than in the hippocampus. Medial septal lesions produced a delay-dependent deficit in spatial working memory, while lesions of the vDB resulted in a delay-independent performance deficit. In addition, rats with vDB lesions adopted biased response strategies during the imposition of long delays. Neither lesion significantly affected the acquisition of a spatial reference memory task, the Morris water maze. The results are discussed in terms of cholinergic- and GABAergic-dependent functions of the hippocampal formation and cingulate cortex in spatial short-term and reference memory.

Evidence for a hypothalamothalamocortical circuit mediating pheromonal influences on eye and head movements

A method for simultaneous iontophoretic injections of the anterograde tracer Phaseolus vulgaris leukoagglutinin and the retrograde tracer fluorogold was used to characterize in the rat a hypothalamothalamocortical pathway ending in a region thought to regulate attentional mechanisms by way of eye and head movements. The relevant medial hypothalamic nuclei receive pheromonal information from the amygdala and project to specific parts of the thalamic nucleus reuniens and anteromedial nucleus, which then project to a specific lateral part of the retrosplenial area (or medial visual cortex). This cortical area receives a convergent input from the lateral posterior thalamic nucleus and projects to the superior colliculus. Bidirectional connections with the hippocampal formation suggest that activity in this circuit is modified by previous experience. Striking parallels with basal ganglia circuitry are noted.

Bilateral destruction of the ventrolateral orbital cortex produces allocentric but not egocentric spatial deficits in rats

Previous studies have implicated the ventrolateral orbital cortex (VLO) in spatial attention and orientation. Unilateral destruction of the VLO has been found to produce severe multimodal neglect to unilateral stimulation which is qualitatively quite similar to that found following unilateral destruction of either the medial agranular or posterior parietal cortices. A series of anatomical studies have shown that the VLO is reciprocally interconnected with both the medial agranular cortex and the posterior parietal cortex, which are involved in egocentric and allocentric spatial processing respectively. However, the role of the VLO in either egocentric or allocentric spatial processing has never been directly examined. The present study directly examined the role of the VLO in spatial learning by examining the effects of bilateral VLO destruction on performance in both egocentric (adjacent-arm maze task) and allocentric (cheeseboard task) spatial tasks. Subjects in either the cheese board task or the adjacent arm maze were given presurgical maze training and then were assigned to one of three surgical groups: a bilateral VLO group, a lesion control group which received bilateral destruction of the laterally adjacent lateral orbital cortex which has a quite different pattern of connectivity than the VLO, or a sham operated control group. The results indicated that the VLO operates were significantly impaired in the cheeseboard task (allocentric task) relative to controls, but displayed no deficits in the adjacent-arm maze (egocentric task), a pattern of results similar to those found for the posterior parietal cortex. The results of the present study strongly support the contention that the VLO is a component of the cortical circuitry for spatial processing in rodents.

Comparisons of hemi-inattention produced by unilateral lesions of the posterior parietal cortex or medial agranular prefrontal cortex in rats: neglect, extinction, and the role of stimulus distance

Neglect in human and non-human primates has been demonstrated following unilateral lesions of both posterior parietal and prefrontal areas. While it has now been well established that a unilateral lesion of the rodent analog of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, medial agranular cortex (AGm), results in neglect, the effects of unilateral damage restricted to rodent posterior parietal cortex (PPC) have not been examined in detail. The current study assessed rats with unilateral lesions of PPC or AGm on their ability to orient to unilateral and bilateral stimulation. Since it has been proposed in both the primate and rodent literatures that frontal areas may be responsible for the perception of near space while parietal areas may be responsible for far space, stimuli were presented at two different distances. Lesions of PPC and AGm resulted in severe neglect relative to control operates, with both PPC and AGm operates manifesting severe hemi-inattention and allesthesia relative to control operates. After behavioral recovery from neglect there was no evidence of extinction to bilateral simultaneous stimulation. While neglect to visual stimuli predominated in unilateral PPC operates, unilateral AGm operates had severe neglect in all modalities. In addition, while both left and right PPC operates showed contralesional neglect, AGm operates demonstrated the lateralized differences in neglect reported in previous studies. All groups demonstrated an approximately equivalent level of neglect to stimuli presented at the two different distances, and thus failed to support the suggestion of a peripersonal-extrapersonal dichotomy between frontal and parietal areas in rodents.

Topographic organization of cortical and subcortical projections to posterior cingulate cortex in the cat: evidence for somatic, ocular, and complex subregions

The posterior cingulate area (CGp) of the cat consists of cortex on the exposed cingulate gyrus and in the adjacent ventral bank of the splenial sulcus. We have placed deposits of distinguishable fluorescent tracers at multiple restricted sites in CGp and have analyzed the distribution throughout the forebrain of neurons labeled by retrograde transport. Cortical projections to CGp arise (in approximately descending order of strength) from anterior cingulate cortex; prefrontal cortex and premotor areas including the frontal eye fields; visual areas including especially areas 7 and 20b; parahippocampal areas; insular cortex; somesthetic areas; and auditory areas. Corticocortical pathways are organized topographically with respect to the posterior-anterior axis in CGp. Projections from prefrontal cortex and other areas with complex (as opposed to sensory, motor, or limbic) functions are concentrated posteriorly; projections from visual and oculomotor areas are concentrated at an intermediate level; and projections from areas with somesthetic and somatomotor functions are concentrated anteriorly. Thalamic projections to CGp arise from the anterior nuclei (AD, AV, and AM), from restricted portions of the ventral complex (VAd, VAm, and VMP), from discrete sectors of the lateral complex (LD, LPs, and LPm), from the rostral crescent of intralaminar nuclei (CM, PC, and CL), and from the reuniens nucleus. Projections from AM, VAd, LD, and LPs are spatially ordered in the sense that more ventral thalamic neurons project to more anterior cortical sites. Projections from AV and AD are stronger at more posterior cortical sites but do not show other signs of topographic ordering. Projections from LPm, CM, PC, CL, and RE are diffuse. We conclude (1) that cortical afferents of CGp derive predominantly from neocortical areas including those with well established sensory and motor functions; (2) that limbic projections to CGp originate primarily in structures, including the hippocampus, which are associated with memory, as opposed to structures, including the amygdala, which are associated with emotional and instinctual behavior; and (3) that CGp contains subregions in which complex, ocular, or somatic afferents predominate.

Spatial deficits and hemispheric asymmetries in the rat following unilateral and bilateral lesions of posterior parietal or medial agranular cortex

Studies of spatial behavior in both the human and non-human primate have generally focused on the role of the posterior parietal and prefrontal cortices and have indicated that destruction of these regions produce allocentric and egocentric deficits, respectively. The present study examined the role of the rodent analogs of these regions, the posterior parietal (PPC) and medial agranular (AGm) cortices, in egocentric and allocentric spatial processing, and whether spatial processing in rodents is organized in a hemispatial and/or lateralized manner as has been found in the primate. Eighty male rats receiving either a unilateral or bilateral lesion of AGm or PPC were examined on an egocentric (adjacent arm) or an allocentric (cheeseboard) maze task. The results indicated that PPC and AGm have dissociable spatial functions. Bilateral AGm destruction resulted in egocentric spatial deficits, and unilateral AGm operates demonstrated an intermediate deficit. In contrast, bilateral PPC operates demonstrated a severe deficit in allocentric processing. In addition, there were lateralized differences in the performance of unilateral PPC operates. While right PPC lesions resulted in a significant deficit on the allocentric task, no such deficit was seen in left PPC operates. In addition, neither unilateral AGm nor unilateral PPC operates demonstrated a hemispatial impairment on either the egocentric or allocentric tasks.

Differential involvement of anterior and posterior cingulate cortices in spatial discriminative learning in a T-maze in mice

The contribution of the anterior and posterior cingulate cortical areas to spatial learning and memory was examined in mice using a behavioral paradigm based on a spatial discrimination task in a T-maze. Multiple injections of small amounts of ibotenic acid were used to produce fiber-sparing lesions of either the anterior (ACC) or the posterior (PCC) cingulate area. Mice with ACC lesions, though learning the initial acquisition and first reversal of the discrimination at about the normal rate, were impaired during the subsequent four reversal sessions. In contrast to control mice, they failed to improve their performance from the first to the last session. Nevertheless, when later required to repeatedly learn the same discrimination over several days (repetitive testing), animals with ACC lesions no longer exhibited any learning deficit. The converse pattern of results was found in mice with PCC lesions. These animals performed much more poorly than control animals during the acquisition and first reversal of the discrimination, but displayed remarkable improvement over the subsequent four reversal sessions, gradually overcoming their initial impairment. However, when later submitted to repetitive testing, these animals again showed a substantial learning deficit. Neither ACC nor PCC cingulate lesions significantly affected the animals' retention capacities as measured by single test-trials over a 24-h interval. Yet, mice with PCC lesions were retarded in reversal learning after a long intersession interval (10 days), indicating that PCC, but not ACC, lesions did interfere with some long-term retention processes. These results imply that the ACC, as a part of the medial frontal cortex, may play a crucial role in temporally ordering a series of spatial responses, whereas the PCC seems to contribute to the formation and retention of each individual spatial response, probably by transmitting information from limbic structures such as the anterior thalamus and hippocampal formation to posterior neocortical association areas.

The neuroanatomy and neurophysiology of attention

Attention is a distributed process. The activity of neurons in many brain structures can be modulated by the attentional state of the animal. Attention directed toward a particular external stimulus is often reflected in an enhancement of the sensory response to that stimulus. Enhancement is spatially selective for neurons in many areas and explicitly eye-movement related in most. Attention directed toward the internal representation of a stimulus may be associated with a prolongation of neural activity. These modulations of neuronal responsiveness underscore the dynamic nature of neural processing. Competition between left- and right-brain structures in the control of attention is common. While attention is perceived as a unitary process, it is subserved by many brain structures. Given the wide distribution of attentional processes, it is not surprising that children diagnosed as having attentional deficits show considerable diversity in symptoms and etiology.

Hippocampus and medial temporal cortex: neuronal activity related to behavioural responses during the performance of memory tasks by primates

Neuronal activity was recorded in the hippocampal formation, the parahippocampal gyrus and medial inferotemporal cortex of monkeys performing memory tasks. In a modified delayed matching to sample task in which 2 sequentially presented stimuli were compared on each trial, a match condition required a right panel press, whereas a non-match condition required a left panel press. The activity of 336/736 (45.7%) neurons was related to the behavioural responses (left or right panel presses) in this task. The incidence of response-related activity was 57.4% in cortical areas adjacent to the rhinal sulcus plus medial inferotemporal cortex, and 40.2% for the hippocampal formation. For 58.9% of these response-related neurons, the activity change associated with the behavioural response was greater than that during presentation of the sensory stimuli, though neurons commonly responded (33.2% of all recorded neurons) to both sensory and motor events. The activity of 198 neurons (26.9%) differed between go-left and go-right trials; such neurons were found in all areas but were nearly twice as common in the posterior as in the anterior hippocampal formation. The importance of visual stimuli for the response-related neuronal activity was examined during the performance of a delayed alternation task without visual cues indicating direction of response. The response-related activity of 8 neurons recorded during the delayed alternation and the delayed matching tasks was similar in both tasks, indicating that memory for the behavioural responses influences the activity of the response-related neurons. In order to test the effects of stimulus familiarity and non-spatial responses on medial temporal neurons, recognition memory and visual discrimination tasks requiring lick responses were performed. The activity of 2/375 (0.5%) neurons was related to the lick responses; 3/68 neurons in the inferomedial temporal cortex responded on the basis of stimulus novelty and none reflected their reinforcement value. It is concluded that the hippocampal formation, the parahippocampal gyrus and medial inferotemporal cortex all have a role in the utilisation of sensory, mnemonic and motor information underlying the selection of spatially-directed behavioural responses.

An analysis of the correlation of lesion size, localization and behavioral effects in 283 published studies of cortical and subcortical lesions in old-world monkeys

The present article evaluates the quality and magnitude of the effects of lesion size and location and their interaction, on the behavioral performance of old world monkeys by a quantitative comparison of 283 published studies. The results indicate that lesion size alone is a poor predictor of the behavioral performance of monkeys, as opposed to Lashley's work in rats. Lesion location is a reliable predictor of the behavioral performance for brain regions thought to be primarily involved in a specific behavior; however, similar behavioral effects, although less reliable, can be observed for many different lesion loci, suggesting a specialized and a holistic brain functioning to be working at the same time. Some lesion loci are, in sharp contrast to current hypotheses about functional localization in the brain, not associated with impairments, but with significant improvements of a specific behavior. For such lesion loci the correlation of lesion size and behavioral performance may yield significant positive relationships (that is, increasing behavioral improvement with increasing lesion size); these relationships are contrasted by the significant negative relationships obtained for lesions of brain regions thought to be primarily involved in a given behavior. Thus, the lesion size may be a good predictor of the behavioral performance, depending on the lesion location and on the behavior under measurement. The behaviors analysed in this study were discrimination or delayed reaction or delayed matching-to-sample. The former two behaviors involve habit-like learning and are thought to be mediated by corticostriate functional pathways in the brain and the latter behavior implies the learning of single events, being thought to be mediated by corticolimbic functional pathways in the brain. Improved performances were observed for habit-like behaviors after lesions of brain regions (lateral frontal, premotor/motor, parietal, inferotemporal cortex, amygdala and fornix) being not primarily involved in a given behavior but possibly being able to inhibit the corticostriate pathways. Interestingly, lesions of subareas of the neostriatum were found to cause impairments in habit-like behaviors presumably being processed via these subareas (e.g. head of the caudate nucleus and delayed reaction), but to cause significant improvements in other behaviors (e.g. head of the caudate nucleus and visual discrimination). Thus, it may be concluded that diverse systems of functionally interconnected brain regions may maintain reciprocal inhibitions, with the result that a lesion within one system not only leads to a loss of one behavior, but in addition leads to a modification, may be a facilitation, of another behavior.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)