Cingulum Microstructure Predicts Cognitive Control in Older Age and Mild Cognitive Impairment

Abstract

Cognitive control, an important facet of human cognition, provides flexibility in response to varying behavioral demands. Previous work has focused on the role of prefrontal cortex, notably the anterior cingulate cortex. However, it is now clear that this is one node of a distributed cognitive network. In this emerging network view, structural connections are inherent elements, but their role has not been emphasized. Furthermore, lesion and functional imaging studies have contributed little knowledge about anatomical segregation, functional specialization, and behavioral importance of white matter connections. The relationship between cognitive control and microstructure of connections within the cingulum, a major white matter tract and conduit of projections to prefrontal sites, was probed in vivo in humans with diffusion MRI. Twenty healthy controls and 25 individuals with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI), an early stage of age-associated cognitive deterioration, underwent cognitive testing, including several measures of cognitive control. For each individual, the anterior, middle, posterior, and parahippocampal portions of the cingulum bundle were reconstructed separately using deterministic tractography and anatomical landmarks. Microstructural variation in the left anterior cingulum was closely related to interindividual control based on verbal or symbolic rules. Errors in a task that involved maintenance of spatial rules were largely restricted to patients with MCI and were related, additionally, to right anterior cingulum microstructure. Cognitive control in MCI was also independently related to posterior parahippocampal connections. These results show how specific subpopulations of connections are critical in cognitive control and illustrate fine-grained anatomical specializations in the white matter infrastructure of this network.

FKBP5 Genotype and Structural Integrity of the Posterior Cingulum

“…Numerous cognitive processes that engage the hippocampus and ACC may be affected by compromised PC integrity. Earlier studies have shown that PC integrity corresponds significantly with verbal (Delano-Wood et al, 2012) and visual memory abilities (Kantarci et al, 2011), as well as executive processes (Schermuly et al, 2010) such as the suppression of pre-potent response, as required by the Stroop task (Metzler-Baddeley et al, 2012). Notably, impairments in these processes characterize anxious individuals (Bremner et al, 2004;Gilbertson et al, 2001;Vasterling et al, 1998;Vasterling et al, 2002;Yehuda et al, 1995).…”

Probiotics drive gut microbiome triggering emotional brain signatures

“…The cingulum fibers connect the sites implicated in cognitive control, including reasoning, decision-making and problem- solving. 11 The anterior cingulum primarily mediates emotional processes while the middle and posterior divisions specialize in higher order cognitive processes and memory formations. 12 The role of the precuneus in decision-making processes is well documented.…”

Regional White Matter Variation Associated with Domain-specific Metacognitive Accuracy

“…This type of metacognition may be best conceived of as an online monitor that integrates information over short timescales and may be linked to the related construct of cognitive control Fernandez-Duque, Baird, & Posner, 2000). Indeed, white matter microstructure in the region of the anterior cingulate has also been linked to cognitive control (Metzler-Baddeley et al, 2012), and meta-analysis of functional imaging studies indicates that the anatomically adjacent dACC supports key control functions such as conflict and error detection (Beckmann et al, 2009;see Ridderinkhof, Ullsperger, Crone, & Nieuwenhuis, 2004, for a review). If metacognitive ability in perceptual discrimination tasks involves the accessibility of performance monitoring information in dACC to a wider network (Baird et al, 2013;, then microstructure in this region should play a key role.…”