Get real: Orbitofrontal cortex mediates the ability to sense reality in early adolescents.

Maria Chiara Liverani,Petra Susan Hüppi,Cristina Borradori Tolsa,Lorena G A Freitas,Dimitri Van De Ville,Vanessa Siffredi,Greta Mikneviciute,Russia Ha‐Vinh Leuchter,Armin Schnider,Djalel‐Eddine Meskaldij,Roberto Martuzzi

doi:10.1002/brb3.1552

Maria Chiara Liverani, Petra Susan Hüppi + Show 9 more

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https://doi.org/10.1002/brb3.1552

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Abstract

IntroductionOrbitofrontal reality filtering (ORFi) is a memory mechanism that distinguishes whether a thought is relevant to present reality or not. In adults, it is mediated by the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC). This region is still not fully developed in preteenagers, but ORFi is already active from age 7. Here, we probe the neural correlates of ORFi in early adolescents, hypothesizing that OFC mediates the sense of reality in this population.MethodsFunctional magnetic resonance images (fMRI) were acquired in 22 early adolescents during a task composed of two runs: run 1 measuring recognition capacity; run 2 measuring ORFi; each containing two types of images (conditions): distractors (D: images seen for the first time in the current run) and targets (T: images seen for the second time in the current run). Group region of interest (ROI) analysis was performed in a flexible factorial design with two factors (run and condition) using SPM12.ResultsWe found significant main effects for the experimental run and condition. The bilateral OFC activation was higher during ORFi than during the first run. Additionally, the OFC was more active while processing distractors than targets.ConclusionThese results confirm, for the first time, the role of OFC in reality filtering in early adolescents.

Highlights

Orbitofrontal reality filtering (ORFi) is a memory mechanism that distinguishes whether a thought is relevant to present reality or not
We probe the neural correlates of ORFi in early adolescents, hypothesizing that orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) mediates the sense of reality in this population
Functional magnetic resonance images were acquired in 22 early adolescents during a task composed of two runs: run 1 measuring recognition capacity; run 2 measuring ORFi; each containing two types of images: distractors (D: images seen for the first time in the current run) and targets (T: images seen for the second time in the current run)

Summary

Introduction

Orbitofrontal reality filtering (ORFi) is a memory mechanism that distinguishes whether a thought is relevant to present reality or not. Schnider and colleagues (Schnider, von Daniken, & Gutbrod, 1996) developed an experimental paradigm to test ORFi and to reliably discriminate reality-confusing patients from healthy participants. It consists of two runs of a continuous recognition task in which the same images are shown twice. In the second run all images are familiar, and familiarity alone is not enough to perform the task In this second run, ORFi is needed, representing the ability to sense whether the memory of an item relates to the present (the currently ongoing run), or not (Schnider & Ptak, 1999)

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