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Dynamic Causal Modelling of Hierarchical Planning.
Qunjun Liang1, Jinhui Li1, Senning Zheng1
1School of Psychology, Center for Studies of Psychological Application, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Brain Cognition and Educational Science, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China.
Neuroimage
|June 16, 2022
Summary
Hierarchical planning (HP) involves organizing tasks into subgoals. This study reveals how the dmPFC and PMC interact to support higher-level planning, impacting navigation and response times.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Computational Neuroscience
- Neuroimaging
Background:
- Hierarchical planning (HP) optimizes goal achievement by breaking down tasks into subgoals.
- Previous research identified dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC), premotor cortex (PMC), and superior parietal lobe (SPL) in HP.
- The interaction between these regions during HP remains poorly understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the neural interactions supporting hierarchical planning (HP).
- To elucidate the roles of dmPFC, PMC, and SPL in processing higher-level planning information.
- To understand how brain connectivity influences individual differences in planning task performance.
Main Methods:
- fMRI experiment utilizing a virtual subway navigation task.
- General Linear Model (GLM) to identify brain regions active during HP.
- Dynamic Causal Modelling (DCM) and Parametric Empirical Bayes (PEB) to analyze effective connectivity.
Main Results:
- GLM confirmed dmPFC, PMC, and SPL involvement in HP.
- DCM revealed significant modulation of dmPFC→PMC connectivity by higher-level planning.
- PEB analysis showed that connectivity modulation (dmPFC→PMC, PMC→SPL) explained individual response time differences.
Conclusions:
- The dmPFC plays a crucial role in responding to higher-level planning signals.
- The PMC acts as a critical intermediary, linking higher-level planning to behavioral outcomes.
- Neural connectivity patterns between dmPFC, PMC, and SPL are key to efficient hierarchical planning.
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