Dynamic targeting enables domain-general inhibitory control over action and thought by the prefrontal cortex (data & code)

<strong>Data and code for:</strong> Apšvalka, D., Ferreira, C. S., Schmitz, T. W., Rowe, J. B., &amp; Anderson, M. C. (2022). Dynamic targeting enables domain-general inhibitory control over action and thought by the prefrontal cortex. <em>Nature Communications, </em> <strong>13, </strong>274<em>.</em> https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-27926-w Over the last two decades, inhibitory control has featured prominently in accounts of how humans and other organisms regulate their behaviour and thought. Previous work on how the brain stops actions and thoughts, however, has emphasised distinct prefrontal regions supporting these functions, suggesting domain-specific mechanisms. Here we show that stopping actions and thoughts recruits common regions in the right dorsolateral and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex to suppress diverse content, via dynamic targeting. Within each region, classifiers trained to distinguish action-stopping from action-execution also identify when people are suppressing their thoughts (and vice versa). Effective connectivity analysis reveals that both prefrontal regions contribute to action and thought stopping by targeting the motor cortex or the hippocampus, depending on the goal, to suppress their task-specific activity. These findings support the existence of a domain-general system that underlies inhibitory control and establish Dynamic Targeting as a mechanism enabling this ability.<strong>配套数据与代码：</strong> Apšvalka, D., Ferreira, C. S., Schmitz, T. W., Rowe, J. B., & Anderson, M. C. (2022). 动态靶向（dynamic targeting）使前额叶皮层（prefrontal cortex）能够对行为与思维实施领域通用的抑制性控制（inhibitory control）。<em>《自然-通讯（Nature Communications）》，</em> <strong>13，</strong>274<em>。</em> https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-27926-w 近二十年来，抑制性控制（inhibitory control）在阐释人类及其他生物如何调控自身行为与思维的研究中始终占据核心地位。然而，此前针对大脑如何终止行为与思维的相关研究，多强调支撑这两类功能的特异性前额叶亚区，进而提出了领域特异性机制的观点。本研究表明，通过动态靶向（dynamic targeting）机制，终止行为与思维会募集右侧背外侧前额叶皮层（dorsolateral prefrontal cortex）与右侧腹外侧前额叶皮层（ventrolateral prefrontal cortex）的共通区域，以抑制多样化的内容表征。在每个亚区内，经训练以区分“行为终止”与“行为执行”状态的分类器（classifiers），同样能够识别出个体正在抑制思维的状态（反之亦然）。有效连接分析（effective connectivity analysis）显示，这两个前额叶亚区均可通过靶向运动皮层（motor cortex）或海马体（hippocampus，依具体目标而定），抑制其任务特异性活动，从而实现行为终止与思维抑制。本研究结果为支撑抑制性控制的领域通用系统的存在提供了实证支持，并确立了动态靶向作为实现该调控能力的核心机制。