This brain image
represents a dataset from the study and the regions used as nodes
Researchers use brain scans to determine the mechanism
behind cognitive control of thoughts
(October 1, 2015) The
human brain does not come with an operating manual. However, a group of scientists
from UC Santa Barbara and the University of Pennsylvania have developed a way
to convert structural brain imaging techniques into “wiring diagrams” of
connections between brain regions.
Three researchers from UCSB’s Department of Psychological
& Brain Sciences — Michael Miller, Scott Grafton and Matt Cieslak — used
the structure of neural networks to reveal the fundamental rules that govern
which parts of the brain are most able to exert cognitive control over thoughts
and actions. This study is the first to provide a mechanistic explanation for
how the frontal cortex exerts control over the trillions of individual neurons
that allow people to stay focused on one task or switch to a radically
different one. The findings appear today in the journal Nature Communications.
“Particular regions of your brain are predisposed to control
your thoughts based on where they lie in relation to other regions,” said
Miller, a UCSB psychology professor and co-author of the paper. “The regions on
the ‘outskirts’ can perform a very specific kind of control. They can move the
system to distant states, like switching from working at your job to playing
with your kids.”