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ventromedial prefrontal cortex

the rear part of the prefrontal cortex, including the cortex on top of the orbits of both eyes and the inside part of the frontal lobes.

Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex

Older news items (pre-2010) brought over from the old website

September 2009

Concepts are born in the hippocampus

Concepts are at the heart of cognition. A study showed 25 people pairs of fractal patterns that represented the night sky and asked them to forecast the weather – either rain or sun – based on the patterns. The task could be achieved by either working out the conceptual principles, or simply memorizing which patterns produced which effects. However, the next task required them to make predictions using new patterns (but based on the same principles). Success on this task was predictable from the degree of activity in the hippocampus during the first, learning, phase. In the second phase, the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, important in decision-making, was active. The results indicate that concepts are learned and stored in the hippocampus, and then passed on to the vMPFC for application.

Kumaran, D. et al. 2009. Tracking the Emergence of Conceptual Knowledge during Human Decision Making. Neuron, 63 (6), 889-901.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17862-concepts-are-born-in-the-hippocampus.html
http://www.physorg.com/news172930530.html
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-09/cp-hwk091709.php 

December 2007

Some brain injuries may reduce the likelihood of PTSD

A study of combat-exposed Vietnam War veterans shows that those who suffered injuries to the amygdala or the ventromedial prefrontal cortex were less likely to develop post-traumatic stress disorder than those who suffered damage in other areas or had no head injuries (in fact none of those whose amygdala was damaged developed PTSD). The findings suggest that treatment designed to inhibit the activity of these two areas might provide relief from PTSD.

Koenigs, M. et al. 2007. Focal Brain Damage Protects Against Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Combat Veterans. Nature Neuroscience, published on-line December 23

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-12/nion-sss122107.php

May 2005

How the brain handles sarcasm

A study involving people with prefrontal lobe damage, people with posterior-lobe damage and healthy controls, found that those with prefrontal damage were impaired in comprehending sarcasm, whereas the people in the other two groups had no such problem. Within the prefrontal group, people with damage in the right ventromedial area had the most trouble in comprehending sarcasm. The researchers suggest that the frontal lobes process the context, identifying the contradiction between the literal meaning and the social/emotional context, while the ventromedial prefrontal cortex integrates the literal meaning with the social/emotional knowledge of the situation and previous situations.

Shamay-Tsoory, S.G., Tomer, R. & Aharon-Peretz, J. 2005. The Neuroanatomical Basis of Understanding Sarcasm and Its Relationship to Social Cognition. Neuropsychology, 19 (3)

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-05/apa-tao051705.php

Children with autism have distinctive patterns of brain activity

Last month I reported on a finding that toddlers with autism spectrum disorder showed a strong preference for looking at moving shapes rather than active people. This lower interest in people is supported by a new imaging study involving 62 children aged 4-17, of whom 25 were diagnosed with autistic spectrum disorder and 20 were siblings of children with ASD.

Why older adults remember the good times better

An imaging study reveals why older adults are better at remembering positive events. The study, involving young adults (ages 19-31) and older adults (ages 61-80) being shown a series of photographs with positive and negative themes, found that while there was no difference in brain activity patterns between the age groups for the negative photos, there were age differences for the positive photos. In older adult brains, but not the younger, two emotion-processing regions (the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and the amygdala) strongly influenced the memory-encoding hippocampus.

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