What part of the brain is responsible for complex cognitive behavior decision
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The vast majority of this knowledge has been derived from lesion and functional imaging studies in humans and electrophysiologic studies in animals. Because the frontal lobe and functions of the frontal lobes are the most developed in humans, there is a compelling rationale to investigate these functions in humans (and not in nonhuman primates). Some of the functions in this region, such as ethics, morality, and emotional valence, are extremely difficult to study in other animal systems because it remains debatable whether and to what extent such functions exist in animals. Functional imaging methods provide an overview of wide brain regions with superior spatial resolution, up to a millimeter in scale. However, the greatest disadvantage of functional imaging methods, as well as lesion methods, is poor temporal resolution. In contrast, electrophysiologic studies in animals have the advantage of investigating finely detailed neural responses with precise time resolution, up to the millisecond scale, with simultaneous precision in spatial specificity. Show
Intracranial recording in epilepsy patients has the potential to fill the gap between lesion and functional imaging studies in humans and electrophysiologic studies in animals. Although the extent of the field of view is restricted to the vicinity of the area covered by electrodes, the electrophysiologic method in humans provides an incomparable level of time resolution and superb spatial resolution that can localize the neural activity of interest with unsurpassed precision. View chapter on ClinicalKey Neuroanatomical Systems Relevant to Neuropsychiatric DisordersDaphne J. Holt MD, PhD, ... Scott L. Rauch MD, in Massachusetts General Hospital Comprehensive Clinical Psychiatry, 2008 Prefrontal Cortex: Summary and ConclusionsThe PFC is a large and complex brain region that is best conceptualized as being located at the highest point of a sensorimotor pyramid, starting with the primary sensory cortices and ending at the primary motor cortex (Figure 71-3). Highly processed information from sensory association areas converges onto the PFC, which then integrates the information with existing priorities, leading to the construction of adaptive behavioral plans based on this input. Different PFC sectors receive different sensory information and project to different effector areas, but the pattern is consistent. The DLPFC contains its own sensorimotor transfer machinery, while the OFC and mPFC are located in the same sensorimotor circuit (with OFC receiving sensory inputs, transferring relevant information to the mPFC, which then generates appropriate reactions). It can be said that linking sensory inputs to motor outputs is a function of the entire brain, but the PFC is uniquely located to guide complex cognitive and emotional behaviors using this process. Visceral sensory inputs are particularly important in this regard since they provide information about the status of the internal milieu. Animals with lesions of the PFC (especially the OFC) experience an “interoceptive agnosia,” an inability to determine how the body reacts when faced with contrasting behavioral options and to decide which action is the most desirable. This agnosia then leads to a variety of interlinked emotional, social, and cognitive deficits.24 For example, loss of the ability to inhibit inappropriate responses, with impaired reinforcement mechanisms in the face of reward contingencies, and impaired reversal learning, may all be explained by this agnosia. These features undoubtedly make it difficult for organisms to survive in complex social networks, as evidenced by the fact that in free-ranging settings primates with PFC lesions lose their position in the social hierarchy, or fall out of the troop altogether and die in solitude.25 The best known example of the consequences of PFC lesions in humans is the nineteenth-century story of Phineas Gage, a respected railroad construction foreman who sustained damage to most of his PFC in a work accident (Figure 71-4). After the accident, Gage became impulsive and socially inappropriate. Despite apparently having sustained no focal neurological deficits and possessing all of his intellectual faculties, he lost his job, strained his family ties, and was left a changed person.26 More recently, the experience with iatrogenic PFC lesions (as a result of frontal leucotomy) showed that humans with these procedures experience a loss of emotional regulation that manifests itself either in apathy toward emotional stimuli or in disinhibition and inappropriate intrusiveness. Although more subtle, many cognitive abnormalities were also reported in these patients, consistent with the likelihood that “cognitive” areas of the PFC were damaged by these lesions. The magnitude and extended connectivity of the PFC are part of what makes the human brain unique. Since its func tions are so important to human behavior, it is not surprising that multiple psychiatric conditions are associated with abnormalities in the PFC. On the other hand, it is important to note that the PFC is one way-station in a closely coordinated circuit of brain areas. The interactions of the PFC with the striatum, the MD thalamus, and the MTL are essential for proper PFC function. Many consequences of PFC lesions in humans and animals can be replicated by lesions of the striatum, thalamus, or amygdala, or by disconnection of the PFC from these areas. View chapterPurchase book Read full chapter URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780323047432500731 Cerebral CortexTodd W. Vanderah PhD, in Nolte's The Human Brain, 2021 Prefrontal Cortex Mediates Working Memory and Decision MakingThe part of each frontal lobe anterior to areas 4 and 6 is referred to asprefrontal cortex, and it has a different role from that of the other cortical areas considered in this chapter. Prefrontal cortex does not cause movements when stimulated, and it does not contain any primary sensory areas. Instead, it is centrally involved in controlling the activities of other cortical areas—to such an extent that it is seen as underlying theexecutive functions of the brain: planning, insight, foresight, and many of the most basic aspects of personality. Consistent with this, prefrontal cortex expanded dramatically during mammalian evolution (seeFig. 22.12) and now occupies the inside of the distinctively large forehead of humans. Different prefrontal areas share extensive interconnections with the dorsomedial nucleus of the thalamus. These play an important role in the workings of this cortical area, as shown by the observation that lesions of the dorsomedial nucleus have effects that are in some ways similar to those of prefrontal damage. In a functional sense, and in terms of patterns of connections with other parts of the forebrain, there are two broad sets of prefrontal areas (Fig. 22.25). The parts exposed on the lateral convexity(dorsolateral prefrontal cortex) have massive interconnections with parietal multimodal cortex and somatosensory, visual, and auditory association areas (via the long association bundles mentioned earlier; seeFig. 22.9). Many neurons in analogous regions of monkey prefrontal cortex respond to various kinds of stimuli, but they respond especially vigorously when the stimulus is gone and the monkey's task is to remember it briefly to receive a reward. This is consistent with the idea that dorsolateral prefrontal cortex plays a critical role inworking memory, the ability to keep “in mind” recent events or the moment-to-moment results of mental processing. (A common example of working memory is remembering a telephone number until you have finished entering it.) Patients with damage in this prefrontal area have problems with planning, solving problems, and maintaining attention. In contrast,ventromedial prefrontal cortex (extending into orbitofrontal and anterior cingulate areas) is interconnected more with limbic structures such as the amygdala, as described further inChapter 23. Patients with damage here are impulsive and have trouble suppressing inappropriate responses and emotional reactions; some psychopathic conditions are thought to be a reflection of orbitofrontal dysfunction. An early clue to the role of this area in human behavior was provided by an unfortunate accident in the 19th century. In 1848 Phineas Gage, the foreman of a railroad construction crew, was setting a charge of explosives in a hole in rock, using a 13-pound, -foot iron tamping rod. The charge exploded and blew the tamping iron through the front of his head (Fig. 22.26), destroying a good deal of his ventromedial prefrontal cortex. Remarkably, he survived the accident and regained his physical health in a few weeks. However, his personality changed dramatically. Before the accident he had been hardworking, responsible, clever, and thoroughly respectable. After the accident he seemed to lose most of his industriousness and his awareness of social responsibilities.g He wandered aimlessly from job to job, exhibiting himself and his tamping iron in various carnivals. He was tactless and impulsive in his behavior, not particularly concerned about his future or the consequences of his actions (Clinical Focus Box 22.1).View chapter on ClinicalKey Volume 1Michael T. Murray ND, John Nowicki ND, in Textbook of Natural Medicine (Fifth Edition), 2020 Cognitive DysfunctionThe prefrontal cortex (PFC) plays a central role in cognitive control functions, and dopamine in the PFC modulates cognitive control, thereby influencing attention, impulse inhibition, prospective memory, and cognitive flexibility. Because reduced prefrontal dopamine has been associated with impaired cognitive control,32 interventions that improve prefrontal dopaminergic functions are of interest. A randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind, pilot trial in 61 elderly volunteers with subjective memory impairment was conducted to evaluate the effects of GBE on cognitive functions related to prefrontal dopamine.33 Indications for improved cognitive flexibility without changes in brain activation suggested increased processing efficiency with GBE, and together with a trend for improved response inhibition, results were compatible with mild enhancement of prefrontal dopamine. Ginkgo’s putative neuroprotective and cognitive-enhancing properties have provided support for its use in treating neurological, psychiatric, functional, and physiological symptoms, including problems with memory, information processing, attention and concentration, psychomotor function, mood, fatigue, and activities of daily living. Clinical studies have shown that the cognitive domains yielding the largest proportion of significant effects of GBE versus placebo are in the following areas33–38: •Fluid intelligence •Selective attention •Short-term and long-term verbal and visual memory Executive functions (e.g., planning, working memory, flexibility, and processing speed) View chapterPurchase book Read full chapter URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780323430449000820 Fundamentals of human movement, its control and energeticsHayri Ertan, Ismail Bayram, in Comparative Kinesiology of the Human Body, 2020 Motor cortexThe central nervous system, especially prefrontal cortex of the brain, has a critical importance for controlling voluntary movements. As its name obvious for its function, the central nervous system is the “center” to which somatosensory systems provide sensory information and from which motor system transmits motor output to the muscles. Although prefrontal cortex has a major function for planning and controlling of somatic movements, it is not the merely structure for programing and releasing specific motor commands following decision making. Coordination of some other subcortical areas such as basal ganglia, thalamus, cerebellum and brain stem (pons, medulla oblongata, reticular formation) is needed for the execution of fine motor movements. Table 3.1 illustrates three important areas located in the motor cortex. Table 3.1. Important movement-related areas of the motor cortex. NameLocationFunctionPrimary Motor Cortex (M1)Lying along to the central sulcusGeneration of neural impulses to control the execution of somatic movementsSupplementary Motor Cortex (SMA)Lies medial to the premotor area, also forward of the primary motor cortexCoordination of two-handed movements, also planning of complex movementsPremotor Cortex (PMA)Lies just immediately anterior to the primary motor cortexNot uniform in function, primarily selection of the movement sequence based on external events What part of the brain controls cognitive behavior?The frontal lobe is responsible for initiating and coordinating motor movements; higher cognitive skills, such as problem solving, thinking, planning, and organizing; and for many aspects of personality and emotional makeup.
What part of the brain controls complex behaviors?The limbic system is a group of interconnected structures located deep within the brain. It's the part of the brain that's responsible for behavioral and emotional responses.
What part of the brain is associated with decisionThe Prefrontal Cortex (PFC) and hippocampus are the most critical parts of the human brain for decision making.
Which area of the brain is involved in complex functions like problem solving?The PFC is the part of the cerebrum that lies directly behind the eyes and the forehead.
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