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Timing and neural encoding of somatosensory parametric working memory in macaque prefrontal cortex.
- Cereb. Cortex
, 2003
"... We trained monkeys to compare the frequencies of two mechanical vibrations applied sequentially to the tip of a finger and to report which of the two stimuli had the higher frequency. This task requires remembering the first frequency during the delay period between the two stimuli. Recordings were ..."
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Cited by 51 (7 self)
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We trained monkeys to compare the frequencies of two mechanical vibrations applied sequentially to the tip of a finger and to report which of the two stimuli had the higher frequency. This task requires remembering the first frequency during the delay period between the two stimuli. Recordings were made from neurons in the inferior convexity of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) while the monkeys performed the task. We report neurons that fire persistently during the delay period, with a firing rate that is a monotonic function of the frequency of the first stimulus. Separately from, and in addition to, their correlation with the first stimulus, the delay period firing rates of these neurons were correlated with the behavior of the monkey, in a manner consistent with their interpretation as the neural substrate of working memory during the task. Most neurons had firing rates that varied systematically with time during the delay period. We suggest that this time-dependent activity may encode time itself and may be an intrinsic part of active memory maintenance mechanisms.
Activity in the lateral prefrontal cortex reflects multiple steps of future events in action plans. Neuron. 50:631--641
, 2006
"... To achieve a behavioral goal in a complex environment, we must plan multiple steps of motor behavior. On planning a series of actions, we anticipate future events that will occur as a result of each action and mentally organize the temporal sequence of events. To investigate the involvement of the l ..."
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Cited by 32 (2 self)
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To achieve a behavioral goal in a complex environment, we must plan multiple steps of motor behavior. On planning a series of actions, we anticipate future events that will occur as a result of each action and mentally organize the temporal sequence of events. To investigate the involvement of the lateral prefrontal cortex (PFC) in such multistep planning, we examined neuronal activity in the PFC of monkeys performing a maze task that required the planning of stepwise cursor movements to reach a goal. During the preparatory period, PFC neurons reflected each of all forthcoming cursor movements, rather than arm movements. In contrast, in the primary motor cortex, most neuronal activity reflected arm movements but little of cursor movements during the preparatory period, as well as during movement execution. Our data suggest that the PFC is involved primarily in planning multiple future events that occur as a consequence of behavioral actions.
Multiple movement representations in the human brain: an event-related fMRI study
- J. Cogn. Neurosci
, 2002
"... & Neurovascular correlates of response preparation have been investigated in human neuroimaging studies. However, conventional neuroimaging cannot distinguish, within the same trial, between areas involved in response selection and/ or response execution and areas specifically involved in respon ..."
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Cited by 21 (5 self)
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& Neurovascular correlates of response preparation have been investigated in human neuroimaging studies. However, conventional neuroimaging cannot distinguish, within the same trial, between areas involved in response selection and/ or response execution and areas specifically involved in response preparation. The specific contribution of parietal and frontal areas to motor preparation has been explored in electrophysiological studies in monkey. However, the asso-ciative nature of sensorimotor tasks calls for the additional contributions of other cortical regions. In this article, we have investigated the functional anatomy of movement represen-tations in the context of an associative visuomotor task with instructed delays. Neural correlates of movement representa-tions have been assessed by isolating preparatory activity that
Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation dissociates working memory manipulation from retention functions in the prefrontal, but not posterior parietal, cortex
- Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
, 2006
"... & Understanding the contributions of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) to working memory is central to understanding the neu-ral bases of high-level cognition. One question that remains controversial is whether the same areas of the dorsolateral PFC (dlPFC) that participate in the manipulation of info ..."
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Cited by 13 (3 self)
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& Understanding the contributions of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) to working memory is central to understanding the neu-ral bases of high-level cognition. One question that remains controversial is whether the same areas of the dorsolateral PFC (dlPFC) that participate in the manipulation of information in working memory also contribute to its short-term retention (STR). We evaluated this question by first identifying, with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), brain areas involved in manipulation. Next, these areas were targeted with repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) while sub-jects performed tasks requiring only the STR or the STR plus manipulation of information in working memory. fMRI indicated that manipulation-related activity was independent of retention-related activity in both the PFC and superior parietal lobule (SPL). rTMS, however, yielded a different pattern of results. Although rTMS of the dlPFC selectively disrupted manipulation, rTMS of the SPL disrupted manipu-lation and STR to the same extent. rTMS of the postcentral gyrus (a control region) had no effect on performance. The implications of these results are twofold. In the PFC, they are consistent with the view that this region contributes more importantly to the control of information in working memory than to its STR. In the SPL, they illustrate the importance of supplementing the fundamentally correlational data from neuroimaging with a disruptive method, which affords stron-ger inference about structure–function relations. &
Identifying regional activity associated with temporally separated components of working memory using event-related functional MRI
- NeuroImage
, 2003
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Microstimulation of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex biases saccade target selection
, 2005
"... & A long-standing issue concerning the executive function of the primate dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is how the activity of prefrontal neurons is linked to behavioral response selec-tion. To establish a functional relationship between prefrontal memory fields and saccade target selection, we ..."
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Cited by 7 (1 self)
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& A long-standing issue concerning the executive function of the primate dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is how the activity of prefrontal neurons is linked to behavioral response selec-tion. To establish a functional relationship between prefrontal memory fields and saccade target selection, we trained three macaque monkeys to make saccades to the remembered location of a visual cue in a delayed spatial match-to-sample saccade task. We electrically stimulated sites in the prefrontal cortex with subthreshold currents during the delay epoch while monkeys performed this task. Our results show that the artificially injected signal interacts with the neural activity responsible for target selection, biasing saccade choices either towards the receptive/movement field (RF/MF) or away from the RF/MF, depending on the stimulation site. These findings might reflect a functional link between prefrontal signals responsible for the selection bias by modulating the balance between excitation and inhibition in the competitive inter-actions underlying behavioral selection. &
Effects of electrical microstimulation in monkey frontal eye field on saccades to remembered targets
, 2005
"... Abstract Spatially selective delay activity in the frontal eye field (FEF) is hypothesized to be part of a mechanism for the transformation of visual signals into instructions for voluntary movements. To understand the linkage between FEF activity and eye movement planning, we recorded neuronal res ..."
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Cited by 4 (1 self)
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Abstract Spatially selective delay activity in the frontal eye field (FEF) is hypothesized to be part of a mechanism for the transformation of visual signals into instructions for voluntary movements. To understand the linkage between FEF activity and eye movement planning, we recorded neuronal responses of FEF neurons while monkeys performed a memory-saccade task. We then electrically stimulated the same sites during the memory-delay epoch of the task. The stimulation currents used were subthreshold for evoking saccades during a gap-fixation task. Microstimulation resulted in changes in the spatial and temporal components of saccade parameters: an increase in latency, and a shift in amplitude and direction. We performed a vector analysis to determine the relative influence of the visual cue and electrical stimulus on the memory-saccade. In general, the memory-saccade was strongly weighted toward the visual cue direction, yet the electrical stimulus introduced a consistent bias away from the receptive/movement field of the stimulation site. The effects of sub-threshold stimulation were consistent with a combination of vector subtraction and averaging, but not with vector summation. Vector subtraction may play a role in spatial updating of movement plans for memory-guided saccades when eye position changes during the memory period.
The Prefrontal Cortex and Oculomotor Delayed Response: A Reconsideration of the “Mnemonic Scotoma”
"... ■ The concept of the “mnemonic scotoma, ” a spatially cir-cumscribed region of working memory impairment produced by unilateral lesions of the PFC, is central to the view that PFC is critical for the short-term retention of information. Presented here, however, are previously unpublished data that o ..."
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■ The concept of the “mnemonic scotoma, ” a spatially cir-cumscribed region of working memory impairment produced by unilateral lesions of the PFC, is central to the view that PFC is critical for the short-term retention of information. Presented here, however, are previously unpublished data that offer an alternative, nonmnemonic interpretation of this pattern of deficit. In their study, Wajima and Sawaguchi [Wajima, K., & Sawaguchi, T. The role of GABAergic inhibiton in suppress-ing perseverative responses in the monkey prefrontal cortex. Neuroscience Research, 50(Suppl. 1), P3–P317, 2004] applied the GABAA antagonist bicuculline methiodide unilaterally to the PFC of two monkeys while they performed an oculomotor delayed-response task. Consistent with previous studies, errors for the initial memory-guided saccade were markedly higher when the cued location fell into the region of the visual field affected by the infusion. These erroneous saccades tended to select an alternative target location (out of a possible 16) that had not been cued on that trial. By extending the analysis win-dow, however, it was observed that the second, “corrective ” sac-cade often acquired the location that had been cued on that trial. Further analysis of the erroneous initial saccades indicated that they tended to be directed to a location that had been relevant on the previous trial. Thus, the deficit was not one of “forgetting” the cued location. Rather, it was one of selecting between cur-rently and previously relevant locations. These findings suggest a need for a reconsideration of the concept of the mnemonic scotoma, which in turn invites a reconsideration of functional interpretations of sustained neuronal activity in PFC. ■
Neural and Cognitive Plasticity: From Maps to Minds
"... Some species and individuals are able to learn cognitive skills more flexibly than others. Learning experiences and cortical function are known to contribute to such differences, but the specific factors that determine an organism’s intellectual capacities remain unclear. Here, an integrative framew ..."
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Some species and individuals are able to learn cognitive skills more flexibly than others. Learning experiences and cortical function are known to contribute to such differences, but the specific factors that determine an organism’s intellectual capacities remain unclear. Here, an integrative framework is presented suggesting that variability in cognitive plasticity reflects neural constraints on the precision and extent of an organism’s stimulus representations. Specifically, it is hypothesized that cognitive plasticity depends on the number and diversity of cortical modules that an organism has available as well as the brain’s capacity to flexibly reconfigure and customize networks of these modules. The author relates this framework to past proposals on the neural mechanisms of intelligence, including (a) the relationship between brain size and intellectual capacity; (b) the role of prefrontal cortex in cognitive control and the maintenance of stimulus representations; and (c) the impact of neural plasticity and efficiency on the acquisition and performance of cognitive skills. The proposed framework provides a unified account of variability in cognitive plasticity as a function of species, age, and individual, and it makes specific predictions about how manipulations of cortical structure and function will impact intellectual capacity.
