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Cited by 92Neural and Behavioral Psychology StudiesMemory and Neural MechanismsPrimate Behavior and Ecology

Understanding the Prefrontal Cortex: Selective advantage, connectivity, and neural operations

Passingham, Richard E.·2021
DOI 10.1093/oso/9780198844570.001.0001
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Abstract

The primate prefrontal cortex sits at the top of the sensory, motor, and outcome processing hierarchies of the neocortex. It transforms sensory inputs into motor outputs, determining the response that is appropriate given the current context and desired outcome. This transformation involves conditional rules. The dorsal prefrontal cortex supports the learning of behavioural sequences, where the next action is conditional on the previous one. The ventral prefrontal cortex supports associations between objects, where the choice of one object is conditional on the presence of another object. However, because hierarchical processing supports the extraction of abstract representations, the primate prefrontal cortex is able to represent conditional rules that are abstract, meaning that they apply irrespective of the specific inputs. The selective advantage is that by learning these rules, primates can solve new problems rapidly when they have the same conditional logic as prior problems. The human prefrontal cortex has the same fundamental organization as in other primates. The dorsal prefrontal cortex supports the understanding of sequences and the ventral prefrontal cortex supports the ability to learn semantic associations. Thus the human prefrontal cortex has co-opted and elaborated mechanisms that were present in ancestral primates. These mechanisms can be used for new ends. For example, words have been associated with objects so as to communicate with others. This means that to understand human intelligence it is necessary to take into account the fact that the abstract rules are transmitted verbally from one generation to another.

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Crossref · 10.1093/oso/9780198844570.001.0001

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  • The rodent OFC contains only agranular cortex, which corresponds to only a small region of the primate OFC, posteriorly.

    “First, the rodent OFC contains only agranular cortex, which corresponds to only a small region of the primate OFC, posteriorly (Wise, 2008; Passingham and Wise, 2012; Passingham, 2021), and these authors provide evidence that there is no equivalent in rodents of most of the primate OFC.”

    From The orbitofrontal cortex: reward, emotion and depression (2020) · cites this paper as Passingham, 2021

  • There is no equivalent in rodents of most of the primate OFC.

    “First, the rodent OFC contains only agranular cortex, which corresponds to only a small region of the primate OFC, posteriorly (Wise, 2008; Passingham and Wise, 2012; Passingham, 2021), and these authors provide evidence that there is no equivalent in rodents of most of the primate OFC.”

    From The orbitofrontal cortex: reward, emotion and depression (2020) · cites this paper as Passingham, 2021

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Authors
Passingham, R. E.
Affiliations
University of Oxford (GB)
Corresponding author
Passingham, Richard E.
Publisher
Oxford University PressOxford
Published
2021-06-03
DOI
10.1093/oso/9780198844570.001.0001
OpenAlex
W3195109863
Cited by
92
References
0
Citations by year
2026: 6 · 2025: 39 · 2024: 22 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 2
FWCI
13.31
Type
book
Language
en
Open access
closed
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Primate Behavior and Ecology
Keywords
prefrontal cortex, dorsal prefrontal cortex, ventral prefrontal cortex, conditional rules, abstract representation, hierarchical processing, behavioral sequences, semantic association, primate evolution, human intelligence, neocortex

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