前腦一個被稱為“副扣帶溝(PCS)”的摺痕顯然可以幫助人們更準(zhǔn)確記住事情是想像出的還是真實(shí)發(fā)生了，或記住真正說話的是哪個人,。據(jù)劍橋大學(xué)的研究人員稱，這是人類出生前最后長出的幾條結(jié)構(gòu)性褶皺之一,，而且每個人的大小迥異,。研究人員說，有這種褶皺的人記憶力要比沒有的人強(qiáng)許多,。
據(jù)劍橋大學(xué)的新聞公報稱,，53名健康的、無認(rèn)知困難史的成人志愿者參加了這項研究,。研究報告發(fā)表在了《神經(jīng)科學(xué)期刊》上,。每個人測試前都認(rèn)為自己的記憶力很強(qiáng)。
參加者是根據(jù)核磁共振掃描成像來挑選的,。從圖像上可以清楚地看到他們是否有PCS褶皺,。隨后，讓他們看結(jié)對和半結(jié)對的詞——如“Laurel和Hardy”和“Laurel和,？”,。在第二輪測試中，要求他們想像另一個詞,，隨后要么是他們,，要么由研究負(fù)責(zé)人真正大聲說出這個詞。
隨后對他們進(jìn)行記憶力測試,。測試中,，無論是他們真看到了第二個詞，或只是想像出這個詞,，他們都要努力記住,，并要記住是誰大聲讀出的那個詞。有PCS褶皺的人記憶的準(zhǔn)確性常常要大很多,。
這項研究對一些精神障礙方面的疾病會產(chǎn)生影響,，如精神分裂癥患者，對他們而言,，現(xiàn)實(shí)和想像之間沒有明確的界限,。了解PCS在記憶和現(xiàn)實(shí)認(rèn)知方面的作用可能會對藥物治療精神障礙疾病產(chǎn)生某種影響。（生物谷 Bioon.com）
doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3595-11.2011
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A Specific Brain Structural Basis for Individual Differences in Reality Monitoring
Marie Buda, Alex Fornito, Zara M. Bergström, and Jon S. Simons
Much recent interest has centered on understanding the relationship between brain structure variability and individual differences in cognition, but there has been little progress in identifying specific neuroanatomical bases of such individual differences. One cognitive ability that exhibits considerable variability in the healthy population is reality monitoring; the cognitive processes used to introspectively judge whether a memory came from an internal or external source (e.g., whether an event was imagined or actually occurred). Neuroimaging research has implicated the medial anterior prefrontal cortex (PFC) in reality monitoring, and here we sought to determine whether morphological variability in a specific anteromedial PFC brain structure, the paracingulate sulcus (PCS), might underlie performance. Fifty-three healthy volunteers were selected on the basis of MRI scans and classified into four groups according to presence or absence of the PCS in their left or right hemisphere. The group with absence of the PCS in both hemispheres showed significantly reduced reality monitoring performance and ability to introspect metacognitively about their performance when compared with other participants. Consistent with the prediction that sulcal absence might mean greater volume in the surrounding frontal gyri, voxel-based morphometry revealed a significant negative correlation between anterior PFC gray matter and reality monitoring performance. The findings provide evidence that individual differences in introspective abilities like reality monitoring may be associated with specific structural variability in the PFC.
