Skip Navigation



Cerebral Cortex Advance Access published online on October 26, 2005
Cerebral Cortex, doi:10.1093/cercor/bhj062
This Article
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
16/8/1212    most recent
bhj062v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Kronhaus, D. M.
Right arrow Articles by Willshaw, D. J.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Kronhaus, D. M.
Right arrow Articles by Willshaw, D. J.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2005. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Article

The Cingulate as a Catalyst Region for Global Dysfunction: a Dynamical Modelling Paradigm

Dina M. Kronhaus 1* and David J. Willshaw 2

1 Brain Mapping Unit, Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK; Institute for Adaptive and Neural Computation (ANC), School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
2 Institute for Adaptive and Neural Computation (ANC), School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Dina M. Kronhaus, E-mail: dk323{at}cam.ac.uk


  Abstract

The anterior cingulate (AC) often exhibits both structural and functional abnormalities in affective disorders. Neither the cause for this vulnerability nor its effect on behaviour is known. Due to its extensive connectivity, minor output changes from the AC may exert widespread consequences. A causal model describing coupling coefficients (effective connectivity) among several brain regions in healthy subjects performing a memory task inspired our work. This stationary causal analysis provides a theoretical framework for our nonlinear dynamical models. We tested the effects of global and local perturbations upon stability of a systems-level neural network of interconnected brain regions. Interactions between regions, represented by path coefficients, were modelled using connectivity matrices. We found that both characteristic behaviour and response to perturbation differed in networks representing perceptual matching and long-delay conditions. Owing to the highly interconnected character of the networks, activation of a few areas was sufficient to trigger characteristic patterns of behaviour. However, only perturbation of key regions resulted in global dysfunction. Likewise, recovery of function was possible by increasing output from some, but not all, regions. We suggest for this recovery to be context specific, conditional on the task, integrity of other regions and global properties such as neuronal excitability.

Keywords: affective disorders; anterior cingulate; connectivity; neural networks; working memory.
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Cereb CortexHome page
N. D. Walsh and M. L. Phillips
Interacting Outcome Retrieval, Anticipation, and Feedback Processes in the Human Brain
Cereb Cortex, May 8, 2009; (2009) bhp098v1.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.