Dissociable concurrent activity of lateral and medial frontal lobe during negative feedback processing

Abstract

External feedback on results of one's behavior guides flexible adaptation to changing environments. It has been suggested that the lateral and medial parts of the frontal lobe are responsible for cognitive and emotional functions, respectively. In the present fMRI study, multiple mental components evoked by the presentation of negative feedback were dissociated along the cognitive–emotional axis in set-shifting paradigms. The double dissociation of the concurrent feedback-related activity was observed in the right frontal lobe: the lateral frontal lobe was associated with the inferential component, whereas the medial frontal lobe was associated with the emotional component. However, among the multiple right lateral frontal regions, a region of interest (ROI) analysis indicated that the inferential component was not dominant in the region near the inferior frontal junction. The medial frontal activations were observed ventral and anterior to the presupplementary motor area, and dorsal and posterior to the anterior cingulate cortex. The double dissociation in the right frontal lobe suggests that the lateral and medial frontal lobe cooperatively but differentially contributes to the negative feedback processing, demonstrating the lateral–medial dichotomy of the frontal lobe functions suggested by previous neuropsychological studies. At the same time, the functional heterogeneity in the lateral and medial frontal lobe demands modifications of the traditional view of the functional organization of the frontal lobe.