Monday morning. Suddenly the sky so far a clear blue is covered with black clouds, as you get ready to go to work. You have several choices: should you slip an umbrella in your bag? Put on a waistcoat? Check the weather forecast for the day? Bring in the laundry? So many possible strategies among which we will have to make a choice …
And that is the role of the brain. Scientists already knew that when it is necessary take a decision, it was the prefrontal cerebral cortex that stuck to it. But a new study conducted jointly by researchers from the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM) and the National School of Higher Education (ENS) and published in the journal Science Express has just specified the – complex – mechanisms of this process.
To do this, neuroscientists observed the brain activity of 40 healthy young people (aged 18-26) as they took part in a game-like test. Mastermind, where a player must make his partner guess a combination of colored pawns. By cerebral imaging, they were able to highlight two regions of the brain strongly involved in the mechanisms of deduction and decision-making.
A first area is first responsible for evaluating the situation and, therefore, the right behavior to adopt. Then, the second analyzes two or even three alternative strategies in order to choose the most effective. The latter, which bears the name of “frontopolar” is absent in animals and allows us in particular to formulate hypotheses. Thanks to the joint action of these two regions of the prefrontal cortex, we are then able to determine what attitude to adopt… in the face of a sudden downpour, for example!
The impact of neuropsychiatric diseases
The prefrontal cortex develops until late in adolescence … and begins to deteriorate in the first years of aging. The study carried out by researchers from INSERM and ENS will therefore provide a better understanding of how our judgmental faculties are impaired by pathologies such asAlzheimer’s, epilepsy or autism. A great step forward for research!
