Task 2 - Cognition Flashcards
(8 cards)
Where is the lateral prefrontal cortex (lPFC)?
(in humans)
Covering the banks and the depths of the inferior frontal sulcus, including the inferior frontal junction
Where is the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (vlPFC)?
(in humans)
Where the inferior frontal junction is basically
What is the role of the lPFC?
It translates what is out there (environmental cues) into actions (motor goals)
Not really movement specification (“how”) but just the goal (“what”)
Why is the lPFC ideally located in the brain for its task?
Its located between the dorsal attention systems (FEF, IPS) and the medial action selection structures (preSMA, SMA etc.)
Why is the lPFC seen as an integrator of cognitive episodes? What does that mean?
To get to a motor goal, the lPFC needs information about all aspects of a task, so it holds temporal abstract representations (“tags”) of all task elements (integrating them to arrive at motor goal)
What does delay-period activity in the lPFC represent?
- Traditionally only associated with working memory demands
- Also encodes task-rules (associations between sensory cues, rewards etc.)
- Attention and top-down control
Miller’s model of lateral PFC function
The lateral PFC:
1. Represents elements from the logical structure of the task
➞ Cues (C1, C2 etc.) can lead to different responses based on other cues (=learns associations between task related elements)
2. Shows sustained activity in the face of distractors
➞ So people can keep information in mind during delay periods
3. Biases remote areas
➞ Sends excitatory signals to neurons in sensory areas to prioritize task-relevant stimuli
What does sustained activity in the PFC reflect?
- Maintenance of sensory information
- Response preperation
- Transformation of sensory information into response
- Application of task rules
- Expectation of rewards
