Modular networks involving the medial frontal cortex: towards the development of neuropsychiatry

The pathophysiology of mental disorders is largely unresolved. We propose that the identification of abnormalities in brain modular networks will provide a promising approach for the understanding of mental disorders.

We review the current discussion on the neuroscientific basis of psychiatric diseases and review recent studies in functional neuroimaging and systems physiology on mental functions of the human brain.

We propose that brain functional units are organized in modular networks. Modular networks allow for flexibility within the modular processing units and across interconnected modules affording optimization of task performance and deficit compensation in disease. As an example it will be shown that differentiated modules in medial frontal cortex play a critical role for the control of behaviour. This will be contrasted to recent studies in neurological and psychiatric patients revealing behavioural abnormalities due to lesions or reversibly deprived functions in the medial frontal cortex.

These findings are conceptualized as starting points for a neuroscience based diagnosis and treatment of brain diseases at the border of psychiatry and neurology.