CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 126Neural and Behavioral Psychology StudiesMemory and Neural MechanismsNeurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior

Functional localization within the prefrontal cortex: missing the forest for the trees?

Open access
Wilson, Charles R.E., Gaffan, David, Browning, Philip G.F., Baxter, Mark G.·2010·Trends in Neurosciences
DOI 10.1016/j.tins.2010.08.001PMC PMC2997428
Open this paper in CoChat — free accountOpen PDF

Abstract

Anatomical and functional studies of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) have identified multiple PFC subregions. We argue that the PFC is involved in cognitive functions exceeding the sum of specific functions attributed to its subregions. These can be revealed either by lesions of the whole PFC, or more specifically by selective disconnection of the PFC from certain types of information (for example, visual) allowing the investigation of PFC function in toto. Recent studies in macaque monkeys using the latter approach lead to a second conclusion: that the PFC, as a whole, could be fundamentally specialized for representing events that are extended in time. The representation of temporally complex events might underlie PFC involvement in general intelligence, decision-making, and executive function.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1016/j.tins.2010.08.001

Cites

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • The brain constructs simulations (as concepts) across many different timescales.

    “As a prediction generator, the brain is constructing simulations (as concepts) across many different timescales (i.e. integrating information across the few moments that constitute an event, but also across longer time frames at various scales; for similar ideas, see Wilson et al., 2010; Hasson et al., 2015).”

    From The theory of constructed emotion: an active inference account of interoception and categorization (2016) · cites this paper as Wilson et al., 2010

    In “What is the higher-order role of the PFC?” (page unavailable), the paper describes representing temporally complex events by linking information presented at different points in time. That is similar to the cited sentence’s idea of integrating information across time, but the paper does not describe the brain constructing simulations as concepts across many timescales. (LLM, conf=0.82)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

The citation lists haven’t been fetched yet

References 77 · Cited by 126

Research works printed but not linked: 57

  1. [1]Miller E.K. Cohen J.D. An integrative theory of prefrontal cortex function Annu. Rev. Neurosci. 24 2001 167 202 11283309
  2. [3]Aron A.R. Inhibition and the right inferior frontal cortex Trends Cogn. Sci. 8 2004 170 177 15050513
  3. [4]Duncan J. A neural basis for general intelligence Science 289 2000 457 460 10903207
  4. [5]Goldman-Rakic P.S. Porrino L.J. The primate mediodorsal (MD) nucleus and its projection to the frontal lobe J. Comp. Neurol. 242 1985 535 560 2418080
  5. [6]Pandya D.N. Yeterian E.H. Comparison of prefrontal architecture and connections Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B Biol. Sci. 351 1996 1423 1432 8941954
  6. [7]Petrides M. Lateral prefrontal cortex: architectonic and functional organization Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B Biol. Sci. 360 2005 781 795 15937012 PMC1569489
  7. [12]Akert K. Comparative anatomy of frontal cortex and thalamofrontal connections Warren J.M. Akert K. The Frontal Granular cortex and Behavior 1964 McGraw–Hill 372 396
  8. [14]von Bonin G. Bailey P. The Neocortex of Macaca Mulatta 1947 University of Illinois Press
  9. [15]Barbas H. Pandya D.N. Architecture and intrinsic connections of the prefrontal cortex in the rhesus monkey J. Comp. Neurol. 286 1989 353 375 2768563
  10. [16]Carmichael S.T. Price J.L. Connectional networks within the orbital and medial prefrontal cortex of macaque monkeys J. Comp. Neurol. 371 1996 179 207 8835726
  11. [17]Carmichael S.T. Price J.L. Architectonic subdivision of the orbital and medial prefrontal cortex in the macaque monkey J. Comp. Neurol. 346 1994 366 402 7527805
  12. [18]Barbas H. Blatt G.J. Topographically specific hippocampal projections target functionally distinct prefrontal areas in the rhesus monkey Hippocampus 5 1995 511 533 8646279
  13. [19]Bates J.F. Goldman-Rakic P.S. Prefrontal connections of medial motor areas in the rhesus monkey J. Comp. Neurol. 336 1993 211 228 7503997
  14. [20]Schmahmann J.D. Pandya D.N. The cerebrocerebellar system Int. Rev. Neurobiol. 41 1997 31 60 9378595
  15. [21]Barbas H. Pandya D.N. Patterns of connections of the prefrontal cortex in the rhesus monkey associated with cortical architecture Levin H.S. Frontal Lobe function and Dysfunction 1991 Oxford University Press 35 58
  16. [22]Mishkin M. Manning F.J. Non-spatial memory after selective prefrontal lesions in monkeys Brain Res. 143 1978 313 323 415803
  17. [23]Mishkin M. Pribram K.H. Analysis of the effects of frontal lesions in monkey. I. Variations of delayed alternation J. Comp. Physiol. Psychol. 48 1955 492 495 13271624
  18. [24]Bachevalier J. Mishkin M. Visual recognition impairment follows ventromedial but not dorsolateral prefrontal lesions in monkeys Behav. Brain Res. 20 1986 249 261 3741586
  19. [25]Rao S.C. Integration of what and where in the primate prefrontal cortex Science 276 1997 821 824 9115211
  20. [26]Wilson F.A. Dissociation of object and spatial processing domains in primate prefrontal cortex Science 260 1993 1955 1958 8316836
  21. [27]Jones E.G. Powell T.P. An anatomical study of converging sensory pathways within the cerebral cortex of the monkey Brain 93 1970 793 820 4992433
  22. [28]Hashimoto R. Sakai K.L. Specialization in the left prefrontal cortex for sentence comprehension Neuron 35 2002 589 597 12165479
  23. [29]Badre D. D’Esposito M. Is the rostro-caudal axis of the frontal lobe hierarchical? Nat. Rev. Neurosci. 10 2009 659 669 19672274 PMC3258028
  24. [30]Race E.A. Neural priming in human frontal cortex: multiple forms of learning reduce demands on the prefrontal executive system J. Cogn. Neurosci. 21 2009 1766 1781 18823245 PMC2788302
  25. [31]Gilbert S.J. The scale of functional specialization within human prefrontal cortex J. Neurosci. 30 2010 1233 1237 20107051 PMC2923077
  26. [33]Gaffan D. Against memory systems Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B Biol. Sci. 357 2002 1111 1121 12217178 PMC1693020
  27. [34]Brutkowski, S. et al. (1963) Positive and inhibitory motor conditioned reflexes in monkeys after ablation of orbital or dorso-lateral surface of the frontal cortex. In Central and Peripheral Mechanisms of Motor Functions (Gutman E. and Hník, P., eds), pp. 133–141, Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences
  28. [36]Baxter M.G. Perseverative interference with object-in-place scene learning in rhesus monkeys with bilateral ablation of ventrolateral prefrontal cortex Learn. Mem. 15 2008 126 132 18299439 PMC2275654
  29. [37]Baxter M.G. Orbital prefrontal cortex is required for object-in-place scene memory but not performance of a strategy implementation task J. Neurosci. 27 2007 11327 11333 17942727 PMC2092501
  30. [38]Baxter M.G. Dorsolateral prefrontal lesions do not impair tests of scene learning and decision-making that require frontal–temporal interaction Eur. J. Neurosci. 28 2008 491 499 18702721 PMC2522287
  31. [40]Clark L. Differential effects of insular and ventromedial prefrontal cortex lesions on risky decision-making Brain 131 2008 1311 1322 18390562 PMC2367692
  32. [41]Fellows L.K. Farah M.J. Different underlying impairments in decision-making following ventromedial and dorsolateral frontal lobe damage in humans Cereb. Cortex 15 2005 58 63 15217900
  33. [42]Duncan J. An adaptive coding model of neural function in prefrontal cortex Nat. Rev. Neurosci. 2 2001 820 829 11715058
  34. [43]Duncan J. Owen A.M. Common regions of the human frontal lobe recruited by diverse cognitive demands Trends Neurosci. 23 2000 475 483 11006464
  35. [44]Parker A. Gaffan D. Memory after frontal/temporal disconnection in monkeys: conditional and non-conditional tasks, unilateral and bilateral frontal lesions Neuropsychologia 36 1998 259 271 9622191
  36. [45]Gaffan D. Scene-specific memory for objects: a model of episodic memory impairment in monkeys with fornix transection J. Cogn. Neurosci. 6 1994 305 320 23961727
  37. [46]Browning P.G. The role of prefrontal cortex in object-in-place learning in monkeys Eur. J. Neurosci. 22 2005 3281 3291 16367793
  38. [47]Ettlinger G. Visual discrimination following successive temporal ablations in monkeys Brain 82 1959 232 250 13820931
  39. [48]Kuypers H.G. Occipitotemporal corticocortical connections in the rhesus monkey Exp. Neurol. 11 1965 245 262 14295621
  40. [49]Parker A. Gaffan D. Interaction of frontal and perirhinal cortices in visual object recognition memory in monkeys Eur. J. Neurosci. 10 1998 3044 3057 9786199
  41. [50]Bussey T.J. Interaction of ventral and orbital prefrontal cortex with inferotemporal cortex in conditional visuomotor learning Behav. Neurosci. 116 2002 703 715 12148937
  42. [51]Gaffan D. Interaction of inferior temporal cortex with frontal cortex and basal forebrain: double dissociation in strategy implementation and associative learning J. Neurosci. 22 2002 7288 7296 12177224 PMC6757896
  43. [52]Wilson C.R. Neurotoxic lesions of ventrolateral prefrontal cortex impair object-in-place scene memory Eur. J. Neurosci. 25 2007 2514 2522 17445247 PMC1855623
  44. [53]Wilson C.R. Gaffan D. Prefrontal–inferotemporal interaction is not always necessary for reversal learning J. Neurosci. 28 2008 5529 5538 18495887 PMC6670622
  45. [54]Browning P.G.F. Frontal–temporal disconnection abolishes object discrimination learning set in macaque monkeys Cereb. Cortex 17 2007 859 864 16707734
  46. [55]Murray E.A. Gaffan D. Prospective memory in the formation of learning sets by rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) J. Exp. Psychol. Anim. Behav. Process. 32 2006 87 90 16435968
  47. [56]Browning P.G. Gaffan D. Prefrontal cortex function in the representation of temporally complex events J. Neurosci. 28 2008 3934 3940 18400892 PMC6670454
  48. [57]Konishi S. Common inhibitory mechanism in human inferior prefrontal cortex revealed by event-related functional MRI Brain 122 1999 981 991 10355680
  49. [62]Iversen S.D. Mishkin M. Perseverative interference in monkeys following selective lesions of the inferior prefrontal convexity Exp. Brain Res. 11 1970 376 386 4993199
  50. [63]Goldman-Rakic P.S. Cellular basis of working memory Neuron 14 1995 477 485 7695894
  51. [65]Fuster J.M. The Prefrontal Cortex: Anatomy, Physiology and Neuropsychology of the Frontal Lobe 1997 Lippincott–Raven
  52. [67]Easton A. Gaffan D. Crossed unilateral lesions of the medial forebrain bundle and either inferior temporal or frontal cortex impair object-reward association learning in Rhesus monkeys Neuropsychologia 39 2001 71 82 11115656
  53. [68]Easton A. Crossed unilateral lesions of medial forebrain bundle and either inferior temporal or frontal cortex impair object recognition memory in Rhesus monkeys Behav. Brain Res. 121 2001 1 10 11275279
  54. [70]Kim J.J. Baxter M.G. Multiple brain–memory systems: the whole does not equal the sum of its parts Trends Neurosci. 24 2001 324 330 11356503
  55. [71]Gaffan D. Dense amnesia in the monkey after transection of fornix, amygdala and anterior temporal stem Neuropsychologia 39 2001 51 70 11115655
  56. [72]Gaffan D. Associative and perceptual learning and the concept of memory systems Brain Res. Cogn. Brain Res. 5 1996 69 80 9049072
  57. [73]Gaffan D. Dickinson A. Mediated generalization in discrimination learning by Rhesus monkeys Q. J. Exp. Psychol. 61 2008 558 568 18938275

Authors
Wilson, C. R. E., Gaffan, D., Browning, P. G. F., & Baxter, M. G.
Affiliations
  • Inserm (FR)
  • University of Oxford (GB)
  • Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (US)
ORCID
Venue
Trends in Neurosciences
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2010-12
Volume
33
Issue
12
Pages
533-540
ISSN
0166-2236 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.tins.2010.08.001
PMC
PMC2997428
OpenAlex
W2153663755
Cited by
126
References
77
Citations by year
2026: 6 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 15 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 10 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 7 · 2014: 8 · 2013: 9 · 2012: 8
FWCI
0.58
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Trends in Neurosciences (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • HAL (submittedVersion, other-oa)
Funders
  • Wellcome Trust
  • Fondation Neurodis
  • Medical Research Council (MC_qA137504)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
Keywords
prefrontal cortex, functional localization, visual information, representation of time, extended time, general intelligence, decision-making, executive function, macaque, cognitive function
MeSH terms
Adaptation, Physiological, Animals, Cognition, Decision Making, Humans, Macaca, Prefrontal Cortex

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review