生物谷：对于中风的研究能帮助我们更进一步了解左右侧大脑所起到的不同作用。由Exeter大学科学家进行的研究显示，人类完成一些基本技能的能力取决于他们的左侧或右侧大脑是否受到中风的损伤。研究还确认了右侧大脑在注意力以及更正错误方面的作用。
研究主要分析了大脑前部一个负责语言、决策以及学习的区域——额叶。小组发现左侧额叶受伤的病人更多的能意识到他们犯的错误，并且更正。而右侧额叶受伤的人则很难做到。这一研究结果发表在最新的Brain上。
来自Exeter大学的神经心理学家Tim Hodgson博士是项目负责人，他说：“我们知道发生在左侧额叶的中风将导致语言能力受损，但是这一研究首次证明，右侧额叶受损的病人或许将在日常生活中受到更大影响。”
有23名额叶受损的病人参与了测试，他们被要求完成一项任务。所有参与者在完成任务过程中都犯了错误，但是那些右侧额叶受损的病人无法找出错误并且做出相应的调整。左侧额叶受损的病人更正了68%的错误，右侧受损病人则仅仅为30%。
Hodgson表示：“这一结果证明，右侧大脑负责分析我们的行为，然后在我们犯下错误的时候提示我们注意。这种机制在很多情况下都非常关键。例如，在做饭的过程中，人们需要同时注意多项任务，并且保证其中每一项任务都能在正确的时间内正确的完成。”（援引教育部科技发展中心）
??英文原文链接：http://www.physorg.com/news100750636.html
原始出处:
Brain Advance Access originally published online on April 23, 2007
Brain 2007 130(6):1525-1537; doi:10.1093/brain/awm064
The role of the ventrolateral frontal cortex in inhibitory oculomotor control
Tim Hodgson1, Marcia Chamberlain2, Benjamin Parris1, Martin James3, Nicholas Gutowski3, Masud Husain4 and Christopher Kennard2
1Exeter Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, School of Psychology, University of Exeter, Washington Singer Laboratories, Prince of Wales Road, Exeter EX4 4QG, 2Division of Neuroscience, Imperial College School of Science Technology and Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Charing Cross Campus, 10th Floor East Wing, St Dunstans Road, London W6 8RP, 3Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital, Barrack Road, Exeter EX2 5DW and 4Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, Alexandra House, 17 Queen Square, London WC1N 3AR, UK
Corresponding to: Tim Hodgson, Exeter Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, School of Psychology, University of Exeter, Washington Singer Laboratories, Prince of Wales Road, Exeter EX4 4QG, UK E-mail: t.l.hodgson@exeter.ac.uk
It has been proposed that the inferior/ventrolateral frontal cortex plays a critical role in the inhibitory control of action during cognitive tasks. However, the contribution of this region to the control of eye movements has not been clearly established. Here, we describe the performance of a group of 23 frontal lobe damaged patients in an oculomotor rule switching task for which the association between a centrally presented visual cue and the direction of a saccade could change from trial to trial. A subset of 16 patients also completed the standard antisaccade task. Ventrolateral damage was found to be a significant predictor of errors in both tasks. Analysis of the rate at which patients corrected errors in the rule switching task also revealed an important dissociation between left and right hemisphere damaged patients. Whilst patients with left ventrolateral damage usually corrected response errors with secondary saccades, those with right hemisphere lesions often failed to do so. The results suggest that the inferior frontal cortex forms part of a wider frontal network mediating inhibitory control over stimulus elicited eye movements. The critical role played by the right ventrolateral region in cognitive tasks may arise due to an additional functional specialization for the monitoring and updating of task rules.
Key Words: executive control; eye tracking; antisaccades; task switching; frontal lobe
Abbreviations: DLPFC, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex; FEF, frontal eye fields; VLF, ventrolateral frontal
Received November 12, 2006. Revised February 20, 2007. Accepted March 8, 2007.
全文链接：http://brain.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/130/6/1525
