脳画像研究が、自分が行動をコントロールしていると判断する仕組みを明らかに（Brain imaging study reveals how we decide whether we are in control）

2026-08-24 オックスフォード大学

Set up of FMRI imaging. Credit: John Cairns.

＜関連情報＞

• https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2026-08-20-brain-imaging-study-reveals-how-we-decide-whether-we-are-in-control
• https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0896627326005842

前頭前野と皮質下領域の2つの回路が制御可能性を推定し、学習への影響を反映する Two prefrontal-subcortical circuits estimate controllability and reflect its impact on learning

Yanhe Liu (刘彦和), Lisa Spiering, Shuyi Luo (罗姝怡), Naomi Kingston, Jan Grohn, Matthew F.S. Rushworth
Neuron  Available online: 21 August 2026
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2026.07.029

Highlights

• A dmPFC-dorsal raphe circuit tracks environment controllability estimates
• Disrupting dmPFC activity impairs learning about controllability
• Confidence and environment controllability estimation jointly shaped outcome attribution
• Control estimates modulated teaching signals in the dopaminergic midbrain

Summary

When humans and other animals assess that they have little control over outcomes, their motivation and capacity for learning change. However, how we first learn what the control level is and how it then influences learning remain unclear. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) in human participants, we provide both recording and transient disruption evidence for an anatomically grounded model of control learning, in which dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) tracks confidence in each individual decision in order to then estimate controllability and changes in controllability via interactions with the dorsal raphe nucleus. Disrupting activity in this circuit, via dmPFC manipulation, impaired control learning. In addition, another mechanism was identified through which control estimates influenced learning. Participants’ estimates of controllability were associated with widespread changes in outcome signals, including in dopamine-associated midbrain nuclei and in credit-assignment-linked signals in a distinct prefrontal cortex subregion.