We found a mechanism in the brain that the ventromedial prefrontal cortex suppressively controls the amygdala, the emotional center, in order for humans to overcome excitement and tension and improve task performance.A joint research group of Kochi University of Technology, Rutgers University in the United States, Nagoya University, and the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology has revealed.
Why do we lose performance when we get excited or nervous?On the contrary, how does the brain control tension and overcome pressure?This group used behavioral experiments and fMRI (magnetic resonance imaging) to verify the mechanism of the brain that overcomes excitement such as tension that everyone would experience.
In the experiment, the prize amount was presented and the task was tackled, and the excitement level and brain activity were analyzed for each trial.For the evaluation of the excitement level, the size of the pupil, which is known to be larger when excited, was used.
As a result of the experiment, in the unsuccessful trial, the activity of the amygdala and the striatum was observed more than in the successful trial.On the other hand, successful trials found that the ventromedial prefrontal cortex suppressively regulates the amygdala.In addition, the activity of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex was observed as the brain activity that was often active when the excitement level was low.Furthermore, it was found that the stronger the information transmission from the ventromedial prefrontal cortex to the amygdala, the better the average performance of the task.
From the above, the control system in the brain that suppresses the excitement state and improves the performance of the task by acting the inhibitory signal from the ventromedial prefrontal cortex to the amygdala was clarified.
This achievement will be applied to the development of training methods to enable people working in environments with strong stress and pressure (for example, firefighters, paramedics, athletes, performers, etc.) to maximize their performance. There is expected.
Paper information:[Neuro Image] Ventromedial prefrontal cortex contributes to performance success by controlling reward-driven arousal representation in amygdala
