Stability or Plasticity? - A Hierarchical Allostatic Regulation Model of Medial Prefrontal Cortex Function for Social Valuation.

Hackjin Kim

doi:10.3389/fnins.2020.00281

Abstract

The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) has long been recognized as the key component of the neurocircuitry involved in various social as well as non-social behaviors, however, little is known regarding the organizing principle of distinctive subregions in the mPFC that integrates a wide range of mPFC functions. The present study proposes a hierarchical model of mPFC functionality, where three functionally dissociable subregions, namely, the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), rostromedial prefrontal cortex (rmPFC), and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC), are differentially involved in computing values of decision-making. According to this model, the mPFC subregions interact with each other in such a way that more dorsal regions utilize additional external sensory information from environment to predict and prevent conflicts occurring in more ventral regions tuned to internal bodily signals, thereby exerting the hierarchically organized allostatic regulatory control over homeostatic reflexes. This model also emphasizes the role of the thalamic reticular nucleus (TRN) in arbitrating the transitions between different thalamo-cortical loops, detecting conflicts between competing options for decision-making, and in shifting flexibly between decision modes. The hierarchical architecture of the mPFC working in conjunction with the TRN may play a key role in adjusting the internal (bodily) needs to suit the constraints of external (environmental) variables better, thus effectively addressing the stability-plasticity dilemma.

Highlights

Imagine you are an international student who came to study in a country that is culturally very different from that you grew up
The dorsomedial prefrontal cortex has been implicated in numerous aspects of psychological functions (Ebitz and Hayden, 2016), such as detecting and resolving conflicts among competitive responses (Shenhav et al, 2016), searching for a new value beyond the current familiar state (Kolling et al, 2016), and computing decision values based on external sensory signals from the environment, unlike the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) involved in internal valuation (Bouret and Richmond, 2010; Nakao et al, 2012; Howard et al, 2015)
The rostromedial prefrontal cortex (rmPFC) function in context-sensitive reputation management (Jung et al, 2018) may reflect metacognitive monitoring of the appropriateness of intuitive and internalized valuation for selfenhancement under the constraints of social contexts, seeking the optimal decision via referring to interoceptive prediction error signals and engaging external valuation whenever necessary. From this point of view, the role of the rmPFC in seeking the balance between internal and external valuation, which may be critical for successful allostatic regulation, may be the core neural foundation shared among various forms of adaptive functions such as self-efficacy, self-regulation, and metacognition (Zimmerman and Moylan, 2009)

Summary

Introduction

Imagine you are an international student who came to study in a country that is culturally very different from that you grew up. The dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) has been implicated in numerous aspects of psychological functions (Ebitz and Hayden, 2016), such as detecting and resolving conflicts among competitive responses (Shenhav et al, 2016), searching for a new value beyond the current familiar state (Kolling et al, 2016), and computing decision values based on external sensory signals from the environment, unlike the vmPFC involved in internal valuation (Bouret and Richmond, 2010; Nakao et al, 2012; Howard et al, 2015).

Results

Conclusion