The autobiographical origin of this post is rather involved:

• First, I wanted to understand the medial prefrontal cortex generated emotion.
• Next, I wanted to understand how affective neuroscience interacted with the endocrine system.
• Next, I wanted to understand the interactions between nervous & endocrine systems more generally.
• Finally, I wanted to understand how nervous & endocrine systems together regulate the organism as a whole.

At the end of this adventure, the following concepts stand out to me as particularly significant:

• Thirteen pairs of cranial nerves (CN) complement information derived from the spinal nerves.
• The HP (hypothalamus-pituitary) axes represent neuroendocrine systems, such as the HPA axis (stress), HPT axis (metabolism) and HPG axis (sexuality). These are how the central nervous system drives the endocrine system, despite the blood-brain barrier.
• The autonomic nervous system (i.e., the sympathetic & parasympathetic branches) intertwines with the endocrine system to maintain homeostasis.
• The enteric nervous system (500 million neurons within the gut) is connected to the brain via the vagal nerve (CN 10), but can operate independently.

A few general musings to close:

• Within anatomy, the various bodily systems feel much more studied than their interactions.
• The endocrine and nervous systems seem to control the body at different time scales: nerve control is immediate, hormonal control is long-lasting.
• The distinction between autonomic nervous system & autonomic endocrine system could be used to stiffen a conceptual divide between emotion and mood.
• This process of consolidation of anatomical knowledge has really emphasized, for me, how the neocortex is not the only actor on the stage of my architectural research.

To be continued. This was fun!

Part Of: [Mental Architecture v1.5] sequence

Overview

This data collection effort will become larger over the coming months. Eventually, I hope to break this up into a more formal knowledge representation system. It would be nice to create (inter-referencing, version-controlled) tables & software models containing:

• Behavior Explananda Database: Linking modules or modular circuits to different behaviors.
• Lesion Explanada Database: Counting how many syndromes can be explained on the current architecture.
• Confidence Distribution Model: Formalizing my Bayesian intuitions on the architecture, and linking to various streams of evidence & constraint.
• Cortical Maps: Displaying localization information topographically, and noticing areas where localizations overlap (logically possible, but worthy of further research)

Implementation Notes

This document is not close to representative of my entire research project, but it is better to have at least something written down.

Finally, please note that Schema Memory, Semantic Memory, and Episodic Memory are not represented in what follows. These memory systems each comprise their own representational format, but following the principle that “modules tend to save their work near where they are computed”.

Without further ado, here is my December 2015 mapping between my mental architecture, and the brain.

Modular Localizations

The following are cognitive networks (or streams, or circuits) which have been fully or partially localized. Here lie 17 distinct networks.

1. The Action Instigator stream is responsible for activating and deactivating motor activity. It corresponds with the task-positive network and task-negative network.
   • Localization: this stream operates in the Basal Ganglia’s Direct & Indirect Pathways.
2. The Face Computation network, which includes the Face Detector, Facial Identity Lookup, and Face Expression modules.
   • Localization: The Face Detector module operates in the Occipital Face Area (OFA)
   • Localization: The Facial Identity Lookup module operates in the Fusiform Face Area (FFA), receiving input from Face Detector.
   • Localization: The Face Expression module operates in the Superior Temporal Sulcus Face Area (STS-FA), receiving data from Face Detector.
   • Explananda: Capgras Syndrome happens when Facial Identity Lookup signals fail to cohere with that person’s expected affect signature.
   • Theory Basis: The distributed human neural system for face perception (Haxby et al, 2000)
3. The Body Detector network, which includes Body Part Detector and Whole Body Detector modules.
   • Localization: The Body Part Detector module operates in the Extrastriate Body Area (EBA).
   • Localization: The Whole Body Detector module operates in the Fusiform Body Area (FBA).
   • Theory Basis: Functional MRI analysis of body and body part representations in the extrastriate and fusiform body areas (Taylor et al, 2007).
4. The Attention (Top-Down) network, which includes the Preparatory Set circuit, and the Task Switching circuit.
   • Localization: The Preparatory Set circuit operates in cingulo opercular PFC.
   • Localization: The Task Switching circuit operates in fronto-parietal PFC. 
   • Theory Basis: I am leveraging A dual-networks architecture of top-down control (Dosenbach et al, 2008)
5. The Attention (Bottom-Up) network comprises the Salience Computation circuit and the Salience Orientation circuit.
   • Localization: The Salience Computation circuit operates in the dorsal frontal lobe. This is the home of the salience map. 
   • Localization: The Salience Orientation circuit operates in ventral frontal lobe, including Frontal Eye Fields, and is strongly right-lateralized. 
   • Theory Basis: I am leveraging The Attention System of the Human Brain: 20 Years After (Petersen and Posner, 2012).
6. The Attention (Arousal) network comprises the top-down attention network.
7. The Audio (Spatial) stream, which includes a left-lateralized Language Production module. 
   • Localization: the Spatial Stream  includes six tonotopic maps begins with the Primary Auditory Cortex.
8. The Audio (Perceptual) stream, which includes the Voice Recognition and left-lateralized Language Comprehension modules.
   1. Theory Basis: I am leveraging The Cortical Organization Of Speech Processing (Hickok and Peoppel, 2007)
9. The Event Analysis complex, which comprises a Biological Motion and a Causal Inference module. 
   • Localization: The Biological Motion module operates in the Superior Temporal Sulcus.
   • Localization: The Causal Inference module, whose location is unknown…
10. The Global Broadcasting network uses the Thalamus as a relay station to construct a global workspace.
    • Theory Basis: Global Workspace Theory, as first defined by Baars (1988), A Cognitive Theory of Consciousness. See also this talk.
11. The Intimacy network, which comprises an Attachment and an Attraction module 
    • Localization: the Attachment module operates in the  location is the “senior executive of the emotional brain”; the Orbitofrontal Prefrontal Cortex.
      • Theory Basis: Attachment Theory. See also: Attachment and the Regulation of the Right Brain (Schore, 2000)
    • Localization: The Attraction module, whose location is unknown…
12. The Location Detector network, which comprises a Place Inference and a Landmark Inference module.
    • Localization: Place Inference module operates in the Parahippocampal Place Area.
    • Localization: Landmark Inference module operates in the Retinosplenial Cortex.
13. The Memory Metacognition network, including the Recognition Heuristic and Confidence Heuristic modules. 
    • Localization: The Recognition Heuristic module operates in the Right Medial Prefrontal Cortex, constructs the Feeling Of Knowing.
    • Localization: The Confidence Heuristic module, which I have not yet localized.
    • Theory Basis: A role for right medial prefrontal cortex in accurate feeling-of-knowing judgments (Schnyer et al, 2003). Note that, here, feeling of knowing is recognition.
14. The Smell stream begins with the Olfactory Bulb. It is the only sense organ that is not first routed into the Thalamus.
15. The Taste stream begins with the Gustatory Cortex.
16. The Vision (Action) stream (which travels dorsally towards the parietal lobe) also begins with the Primary Visual Cortex.
17. The Vision (Perception) stream (which travels ventrally towards the temporal lobe) begins with the Primary Visual Cortex.
    • Theory Basis: Dual Stream Hypothesis, which I learned from The Visual Brain In Action [second edition] (Milner and Goodale, 2006)

The following are cognitive networks which I have not yet localized. Here lie 4 distinct networks.

1. The Folk Mechanics network, which computes expectancies based on, e.g., the continuity of motion and other physics principles
2. The Folk Math network, which includes the Subitizing module.
3. The Identity Maintenance network, which includes the Identity Constructor, Identity Evaluator, and Identity Stabilizer modules.
   • Theory Basis: The Identity Constructor module relates to Self Enhancement Theory.
   • Theory Basis: The Identity Evaluator relates to Sociometer Theory. See The Nature and Function Of Self Esteem (Leary et al, 2000)
   • Theory Basis: The Identity Stabilizer relates to Self-Verification Theory. See Self-Verification: Bringing Social Reality Into Harmony With The Self (Swann, 1983)
4. The Reputation complex, including the Caregiving module (partially mediated by oxytocin) and the Appreciation module (its functional sibling).

The following are cognitive modules which have been fully or partially localized. Here lie 14 distinct modules.

1. The Action Engine module operates in the Primary Motor Cortex.
2. The Action Evaluator operates in the Premotor Cortex.
3. The Action Planner module operates in the Supplementary Motor Area.
4. The Agent Classifier module, which links to the Amygdala…
5. The Embodied Self module operates in the Primary Somatosensory Cortex.
6. The Memory Heuristic (Effort) module, which constructs the Feeling Of Effort, lives somewhere in the Prefrontal Cortex (PFC),
7. The Homeostasis Regulator operates in the Hypothalamus.
8. The Pavlovian Conditioning module operates in the Posterior Parietal Cortex.
9. The Memory Constructor (Frame) module, which lives somewhere in the Prefrontal Cortex (PFC) …
10. The Memory Constructor (Episodic) module operates in the Hippocampus.
11. The Memory Constructor (Semantic) , which may be near the Lateral Occipital (LO) Complex…
12. The Normative Centroid module, which lives somewhere in the Ventro-Medial Prefrontal Cortex, and activates the Amygdala.
13. The Conflict Monitor module, which lives in the dorsal Anterior Cingulate Cortex (dACC).
14. The Intuition Override module, which operates in the right Ventrolateral Prefrontal Cortex (rVPC).

The following are cognitive modules which I have not localized. Here lie 9 distinct modules.

1. The Counterfactual Simulator module
   1. Theory Basis: this module is adapted from Alan Leslie’s work, and Mindreading (Nichols and Stich, 2003).
2. The Lie Detection module
   1. Theory Basis: Default Credulity theory, as defined by Gilbert (1991) How Mental Systems Believe.
3. The Metaphor Linker module
4. The Mind Reading module
5. The Moral Rigidity module
   1. Theory Basis: Sacred Value Protection Model. Thinking the unthinkable: sacred values and taboo cognitions (Tetlock, 2003)
6. The Social Processing (Fairness) module.
7. The Social Processing (Exclusion) module
8. The Social Processing (Authority) module
9. The Symbolic Marker module

 

Part Of: [Mental Architecture v1.5] sequence

An summary image like this is, of course, highly tentative & deserves a writeup summary & a summary of extant comparative anatomy data. Maybe in v1.6!