Abstract
Cognitive control and decision-making rely on the interplay of medial and lateral prefrontal cortex (mPFC/lPFC), particularly for circumstances in which correct behavior requires integrating and selecting among multiple sources of interrelated information. While the interaction between mPFC and lPFC is generally acknowledged as a crucial circuit in adaptive behavior, the nature of this interaction remains open to debate, with various proposals suggesting complementary roles in (i) signaling the need for and implementing control, (ii) identifying and selecting appropriate behavioral policies from a candidate set, and (iii) constructing behavioral schemata for performance of structured tasks. Although these proposed roles capture salient aspects of conjoint mPFC/lPFC function, none are sufficiently well-specified to provide a detailed account of the continuous interaction of the two regions during ongoing behavior. A recent computational model of mPFC and lPFC, the Hierarchical Error Representation (HER) model, places the regions within the framework of hierarchical predictive coding, and suggests how they interact during behavioral periods preceding and following salient events. In this manuscript, we extend the HER model to incorporate real-time temporal dynamics and demonstrate how the extended model is able to capture single-unit neurophysiological, behavioral, and network effects previously reported in the literature. Our results add to the wide range of results that can be accounted for by the HER model, and provide further evidence for predictive coding as a unifying framework for understanding PFC function and organization.
Highlights
Medial and lateral prefrontal cortex are core hubs of the cognitive control and decision-making network in the brain (Cole and Schneider, 2007)
Activity in mPFC is modulated by activity in lPFC (Equation 5); changes in the location of the target stimulus that influence the evolution of lPFC activity have downstream effects on mPFC activity
We have described additional simulations of the Hierarchical Error Representation (HER) model in which real-time temporal dynamics were introduced to the model
Summary
Medial and lateral prefrontal cortex (mPFC/lPFC) are core hubs of the cognitive control and decision-making network in the brain (Cole and Schneider, 2007). The regions are densely and reciprocally connected (Barbas and Pandya, 1989; Barbas and Rempel-Clower, 1997; Nácher et al, 2019), suggesting that their contribution to behavior depends in part on their tightly-coupled interactions during preparation, execution, and monitoring of the consequences of actions These regions have long been the target of focused investigation, it remains an open question as to how they collaborate in an ongoing and interactive fashion to support adaptive behavior (Badre and Nee, 2018). This temporal dissociation has been interpreted as reflecting complementary aspects of task performance in which mPFC signals changes in behavioral requirements, including specification of control signals (Shenhav et al, 2013) or selection of action policies (Holroyd and Yeung, 2012), and the implementation of appropriate control measures is delegated to lPFC (Botvinick et al, 2001)
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.