A Minimal Biophysical Model of Neocortical Pyramidal Cells: Implications for Frontal Cortex Microcircuitry and Field Potential Generation

AbstractCa2+ spikes initiated in the apical dendrites of layer-5 pyramidal cells (PC) underlie nonlinear dynamic changes in the gain of cellular response, which is critical for top-down cognitive control. Detailed models with several compartments and dozens of ionic channels have been proposed to account for this Ca2+ spike-dependent gain with its associated critical frequency. However, current models do not account for all known Ca2+-dependent features. Previous attempts to include more features have required increasing complexity, limiting their interpretability and utility for studying large population dynamics. We present a minimal 2-compartment biophysical model, overcoming these limitations. In our model, a basal-dendritic/somatic compartment included typical Na+ and K+ conductances, while an apical-dendritic/trunk compartment included persistent Na+, hyperpolarization-activated cation (Ih), slow inactivation K+, muscarinic K+, and Ca2+ L-type. The model replicated the Ca2+ spike morphology and its critical frequency plus three other defining features of layer-5 PC synaptic integration: linear frequency-current relationships, backpropagation-activated Ca2+ spike firing, and a shift in the critical frequency by blocking Ih. Simulating 1,000 synchronized layer-5 PCs, we reproduced the current source density patterns evoked by Ca2+-spikes both with and without Ih current. Thus, a 2-compartment model with five non-classic ionic currents in the apical-dendrites reproduces all features of these neurons. We discuss the utility of this minimal model to study the microcircuitry of agranular areas of the frontal lobe involved in cognitive control and responsible for event-related potentials such as the error-related negativity.Significance StatementA tractable model of layer-5 pyramidal cells replicates all known features crucial for distal synaptic integration in these neurons. This minimal model enables new multi-scale investigations of microcircuit functions with associated current flows measured by intracranial local field potentials. It thus establishes a foundation for the future computational evaluation of scalp electroencephalogram signatures imprinted by Ca2+ spikes in pyramidal cells, a phenomenon underlying many brain cognitive processes.

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Category-Sensitive Excitatory and Inhibitory Processes in Human Extrastriate Cortex

Journal of Neurophysiology ◽

10.1152/jn.00202.2002 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 88 (5) ◽

pp. 2864-2868 ◽

Cited By ~ 54

Author(s):

Truett Allison ◽

Aina Puce ◽

Gregory McCarthy

Keyword(s):

General Feature ◽

Event Related Potentials ◽

Pyramidal Cells ◽

Extrastriate Cortex ◽

Stimulus Category ◽

Human Cortex ◽

Inhibitory Processes ◽

Inhibitory Mechanisms ◽

Related Potentials ◽

Apical Dendrites

Single-cell recordings from the temporal lobe of monkeys viewing stimuli show that cells may be highly selective, responding for example to particular objects such as faces. However, stimulus-selective cells may be inhibited by nonpreferred stimuli. Can such inhibitory mechanisms be detected in human visual cortex? In previous recordings from the surface of human ventral extrastriate cortex, we found that specific categories of stimuli such as faces and words generate category-specific negative event-related potentials (ERPs) with a peak latency of about 200 ms (N200). Laminar recordings in animal cortex suggest that the human N200 reflects excitatory depolarizing potentials in apical dendrites of pyramidal cells. In this study we found that, at about half of word-specific N200 sites, faces generated a positive ERP (P200); conversely, at about half of face-specific sites, words generated P200s. The electrogenesis of N200 implies that P200 ERPs reflect hyperpolarizing inhibition of apical dendrites. These recordings, together with the prior animal recordings, provide strong circumstantial evidence that in human cortex populations of cells responsive to one stimulus category (such as faces) inhibit cells responsive to another category (such as words), probably by a type of lateral inhibition. Of the stimulus categories studied quantitatively, face-specific cells are maximally inhibited by words and vice versa, but other categories of stimuli may generate smaller P200s, suggesting that inhibition of category-specific cells by nonpreferred stimuli is a general feature of human extrastriate cortex involved in object recognition.

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Event-related potentials reflecting smoking cue reactivity and cognitive control as predictors of smoking relapse and resumption

Psychopharmacology ◽

10.1007/s00213-016-4332-8 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 233 (15-16) ◽

pp. 2857-2868 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Maartje Luijten ◽

Marloes Kleinjan ◽

Ingmar H. A. Franken

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Control ◽

Cue Reactivity ◽

Event Related Potentials ◽

Smoking Relapse ◽

Related Potentials ◽

Smoking Cue Reactivity

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Who Comes First? The Role of the Prefrontal and Parietal Cortex in Cognitive Control

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience ◽

10.1162/0898929054985400 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 17 (9) ◽

pp. 1367-1375 ◽

Cited By ~ 143

Author(s):

Marcel Brass ◽

Markus Ullsperger ◽

Thomas R. Knoesche ◽

D. Yves von Cramon ◽

Natalie A. Phillips

Keyword(s):

Prefrontal Cortex ◽

Cognitive Control ◽

Parietal Cortex ◽

Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽

Event Related Potentials ◽

Brain Regions ◽

High Temporal Resolution ◽

Cortical Region ◽

Task Set ◽

Related Potentials

Cognitive control processes enable us to adjust our behavior to changing environmental demands. Although neuropsychological studies suggest that the critical cortical region for cognitive control is the prefrontal cortex, neuro-imaging studies have emphasized the interplay of prefrontal and parietal cortices. This raises the fundamental question about the different contributions of prefrontal and parietal areas in cognitive control. It was assumed that the prefrontal cortex biases processing in posterior brain regions. This assumption leads to the hypothesis that neural activity in the prefrontal cortex should precede parietal activity in cognitive control. The present study tested this assumption by combining results from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) providing high spatial resolution and event-related potentials (ERPs) to gain high temporal resolution. We collected ERP data using a modified task-switching paradigm. In this paradigm, a situation where the same task was indicated by two different cues was compared with a situation where two cues indicated different tasks. Only the latter condition required updating of the task set. Task-set updating was associated with a midline negative ERP deflection peaking around 470 msec. We placed dipoles in regions activated in a previous fMRI study that used the same paradigm (left inferior frontal junction, right inferior frontal gyrus, right parietal cortex) and fitted their directions and magnitudes to the ERP effect. The frontal dipoles contributed to the ERP effect earlier than the parietal dipole, providing support for the view that the prefrontal cortex is involved in updating of general task representations and biases relevant stimulus-response associations in the parietal cortex.

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Fractionating the Cognitive Control Required to Bring About a Change in Task: A Dense-sensor Event-related Potential Study

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience ◽

10.1162/jocn.2008.20015 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 20 (2) ◽

pp. 255-267 ◽

Cited By ~ 34

Author(s):

Duncan E. Astle ◽

G. M. Jackson ◽

R. Swainson

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Control ◽

Task Switching ◽

Event Related Potentials ◽

Event Related Potential ◽

Overt Response ◽

Control Functions ◽

Basic Task ◽

Physical Response ◽

Related Potentials ◽

Covert Response

The ability to change our behavior is one that we frequently exert, although determining the mechanisms by which we do so is far from trivial. Task switching is a useful experimental paradigm for studying cognitive control functions. Switching between tasks is associated with a decrement in performance, or “switch-cost,” relative to repeating the same task. We have previously demonstrated that this cost is dependent on switching from performing one task to performing another; changing only our intended performance does not elicit the same performance deficit. Using event-related potentials (ERPs), we dissociated two electrophysiological indices mirroring this behavioral distinction [Astle, D. E., Jackson, G. M., & Swainson, R. Dissociating neural indices of dynamic cognitive control in advance task-set preparation: An ERP study of task switching. Brain Res, 1125, 94–103, 2006]. However, what was unclear were the specific aspects of performance that were critical for triggering the neural mechanisms associated specifically with switching from a previously performed task. Two candidate aspects were: (i) that performance required a physical response and (ii) that the two tasks shared their responses (they had bivalent response mappings). The present study therefore compared three separate groups to explore the effects of these different aspects of performance. Each group completed the same basic task-switching paradigm, but with either an overt response or covert response, and either switching between tasks that shared their responses (bivalent response mappings) or had separate responses (univalent response mappings). When comparing precue-locked ERPs, we observed three separable components: one common to all three groups, one which primarily dissociated overt from covert responding, and one which primarily dissociated bivalent from univalent responding. We therefore concluded that changing our behavior engages at least three dissociable mechanisms. Interestingly, in the overt conditions, residual switch-costs were absent; in addition, therefore, we concluded that it is possible to engage cognitive control in advance, such that the new behavior is as efficient as were the subject to have repeated the old behavior.

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Event-related potentials and neural oscillations dissociate levels of cognitive control

Behavioural Brain Research ◽

10.1016/j.bbr.2016.12.012 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 320 ◽

pp. 154-164 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Mingou Lu ◽

Nuria Doñamayor ◽

Thomas F. Münte ◽

Jörg Bahlmann

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Control ◽

Event Related Potentials ◽

Neural Oscillations ◽

Related Potentials

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A Potential Role of the Inferior Frontal Gyrus and Anterior Insula in Cognitive Control, Brain Rhythms, and Event-Related Potentials

Frontiers in Psychology ◽

10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00330 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 2 ◽

Cited By ~ 65

Author(s):

Mattie Tops ◽

Maarten A. S. Boksem

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Control ◽

Potential Role ◽

Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽

Event Related Potentials ◽

Anterior Insula ◽

Brain Rhythms ◽

Control Brain ◽

Related Potentials

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Neuronal Correlates of Cognitive Control Are Altered in Women With Endometriosis and Chronic Pelvic Pain

Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience ◽

10.3389/fnsys.2020.593581 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 14 ◽

Author(s):

Genevieve Z. Steiner ◽

Robert J. Barry ◽

Katherine Wassink ◽

Frances M. De Blasio ◽

Jack S. Fogarty ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Control ◽

Pelvic Pain ◽

Chronic Pelvic Pain ◽

Performance Test ◽

Event Related Potentials ◽

Event Related Potential ◽

Pain Severity ◽

Control Group ◽

Severity Scores ◽

Related Potentials

Endometriosis is a debilitating women's health condition and is the most common cause of chronic pelvic pain. Impaired cognitive control is common in chronic pain conditions, however, it has not yet been investigated in endometriosis. The aim of this study was to explore the neuronal correlates of cognitive control in women with endometriosis. Using a cross-sectional study design with data collected at a single time-point, event-related potentials were elicited during a cued continuous performance test from 20 women with endometriosis (mean age = 28.5 ± 5.2 years) and 20 age- and gender-matched controls (mean age = 28.5 ± 5.2 years). Event-related potential components were extracted and P3 component amplitudes were derived with temporal principal components analysis. Behavioral and ERP outcomes were compared between groups and subjective pain severity was correlated with ERP component amplitudes. No significant behavioral differences were seen in task performance between the groups (all p > 0.094). Target P3b (all p < 0.034) and SW (all p < 0.040), and non-target early P3a (eP3a; all p < 0.023) and late P3a (lP3a; all p < 0.035) amplitudes were smaller for the endometriosis compared to the healthy control group. Lower non-target eP3a (p < 0.001), lP3a (p = 0.013), and SW (p = 0.019) amplitudes were correlated with higher pain severity scores. Findings suggest that endometriosis-associated chronic pelvic pain is linked to alterations in stimulus-response processing and inhibitory control networks, but not impaired behavioral performance, due to compensatory neuroplastic changes in overlapping cognitive control and pain networks.

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Evaluation of Neurofeedback for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Related to Refugee Experiences Using Self-Report and Cognitive ERP Measures

Clinical EEG and Neuroscience ◽

10.1177/1550059419849170 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 51 (2) ◽

pp. 79-86 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Mirjana Askovic ◽

Anna J. Watters ◽

Mariano Coello ◽

Jorge Aroche ◽

Anthony W. F. Harris ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder ◽

Cognitive Control ◽

Posttraumatic Stress ◽

Stress Disorder ◽

Controlled Trial ◽

Event Related Potentials ◽

Self Report ◽

Related Potentials ◽

To Receive ◽

Trauma Counseling

Background. Neurofeedback holds promise as an intervention for the psychophysiological dysfunction found in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Few empirical studies have assessed the efficacy of neurofeedback for PTSD, and none in individuals with refugee trauma. A proposed mechanism for neurofeedback efficacy in PTSD is through remediating deficits in cognitive control. We assessed pre- and postchanges in symptoms and neurocognitive functioning of refugee clients participating in a neurofeedback intervention for PTSD. Methods. Clinical data for 13 adult refugees with chronic PTSD who participated in neurofeedback combined with trauma counseling (NFT) was compared with 13 adult refugees placed on a waitlist to receive neurofeedback. Waitlist clients continued to receive trauma counseling alone (TC). NFT was additionally assessed pre- and posttherapy for changes in event-related potentials (ERPs) and behavioral indices of cognitive control using a visual continuous performance task (VCPT). Comparison VCPT data from healthy controls (HC) was available from the Human Brain Index database. Results. Posttherapy, NFT had significantly lower symptoms of trauma, anxiety, and depression compared with TC. NFT demonstrated an increased P3 amplitude and improved behavioral performance suggesting a normalization of cognitive control. Conclusions. These preliminary observations are consistent with a possible benefit of neurofeedback for remediating PTSD. This may be achieved at least partially by an improvement in cognitive control. Further confirmation of the effectiveness of the treatment now requires a randomized controlled trial that considers issues such as placebo response, nonspecific therapist effects, and duration of treatment.

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Psychopathic Traits, Inhibition, and Positive and Negative Emotion: Results from an Emotional Go/No-Go Task

10.31234/osf.io/62kr4 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Lauren Frances Fournier ◽

Julia Blayne McDonald ◽

Peter E Clayson ◽

Edelyn Verona

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Control ◽

Inhibitory Control ◽

Emotional Processing ◽

Negative Emotion ◽

Community Sample ◽

Event Related Potentials ◽

Psychopathic Traits ◽

Affective Processing ◽

Emotional Stimuli ◽

Related Potentials

Inhibitory control, the ability to stop or prevent an action, is of relevance to disorders marked by increased disinhibition and impulsivity, including some facets of psychopathy. Because aspects of cognitive control (including inhibitory control) and emotion are theorized to compete for processing resources, emotional conditions may exacerbate aggressive, impulsive, and potentially harmful behaviors. The present study examined relationships between specific facets of psychopathy and inhibitory control in the context of positive, negative, and neutral emotional stimuli in a community sample using event-related potentials during an emotional-linguistic Go/No-Go task. Results indicated distinct cognition-emotion interactions for each facet of psychopathy. High scorers on the interpersonal facet exhibited decreased inhibitory processing in the presence of emotional stimuli, and decreased emotional processing in the presence of inhibitory demands, suggesting reciprocal interference between cognition and emotion. Higher scores on the callous affect facet were associated with lower emotion and inhibition processing, except when stimuli were most engaging (emotional No-Go trials). Higher lifestyle facet scores related to reciprocal facilitation between inhibition and emotion processing. Finally, higher scores on the antisocial facet were associated with poorer behavioral inhibition overall. Results provide novel evidence for interactions between affective processing and cognitive control among individuals high on distinct psychopathic traits.

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